Methods and Apparatuses for Pay for Lead Advertisements

ABSTRACT

Methods and apparatuses for advertising where the performance is determined via tracking the communication leads generated from the advertisements. One embodiment includes: providing an advertisement on behalf of a specific party; and charging an advertisement fee responsive to a customer making a request for an in person communication with the specific party via the advertisement.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present patent application is a continuation in part application of:copending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/077,655, filed Mar. 10,2005 and claimed priority from Provisional U.S. Patent Application60/653,708 filed on Feb. 16, 2005, Provisional U.S. Patent ApplicationSer. No. 60/568,156 filed on May 4, 2004, Provisional U.S. PatentApplication Ser. No. 60/560,926 filed on Apr. 9, 2004 and ProvisionalU.S. Patent Application Ser. No. 60/552,124 filed on Mar. 10, 2004; U.S.patent application Ser. No. 11/092,309, filed Mar. 28, 2005 and claimedpriority from Provisional U.S. Patent Application 60/653,660 filed onFeb. 16, 2005; and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/095,853, filedMar. 30, 2005 and claimed priority from Provisional U.S. PatentApplication 60/653,661 filed on Feb. 16, 2005. The parent patentapplication no. 11/092,309 is a continuation in part application of:U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/014,073, filed Dec. 15, 2004; U.S.patent application Ser. No. 10/872,117, filed Jun. 17, 2004; and, U.S.patent application Ser. No. 11/021,939, filed Dec. 23, 2004, which is acontinuation in part application of U.S. patent application Ser. No.10/679,982, filed Oct. 6, 2003. The present application claims priorityfrom Provisional U.S. Patent Application 60/888,931, filed Feb. 8, 2007and entitled “Methods and Apparatuses for Pay for Lead Advertisements.”The disclosures of the above referenced prior applications areincorporated herein by reference.

TECHNOLOGY FIELD

At least some embodiments of the disclosure relate to communicationconnections and advertising in general and performance-based advertisingin particular.

BACKGROUND

Telephone systems allow users to conduct real time two-way voicecommunication. Traditional land-line based telephone systems connect onetelephone set to another through one or more switching centers, operatedby one or more telephone companies, over a land-line based telephonenetwork. Traditionally, a telephone connection is based on a circuitswitched network.

Current telephone systems may also use a packet switched network for atelephone connection. A packet switched network is typical in a computerdata environment. Recent developments in the field of Voice overInternet Protocol (VoIP) allow the delivery of voice information usingthe Internet Protocol (IP), in which voice information is packaged in adigital form in discrete packets rather than in the traditionalcircuit-committed protocols of the public switched telephone network(PSTN).

Cellular networks allow a cellular phone to connect to a nearby cellularbase station through an air interface for wireless access to a telephonenetwork. Recent developments in wireless telephone systems allow notonly voice communications but also data communications. For example,cellular phones can now receive and send short messages through a ShortMessage Service (SMS). Web pages can now be retrieved through wirelesscellular links and displayed on cellular phones. Wireless ApplicationProtocol (WAP) has been developed to overcome the constraints ofrelatively slow and intermittent nature of wireless links to accessinformation similar or identical to World Wide Web.

Telephone companies provide a number of convenient features, such ascall forwarding. Call forwarding of a telephone system allows a user ofa phone at a given phone number to dial a specific sequence on the phoneto cause the telephone system to forward incoming calls addressed to thephone number to another specified phone number indicated by the dialedsequence.

Telephone systems are frequently used in conducting business. Telephonenumbers are typically provided in advertisements, web sites,directories, etc., as a type of contact information to reach businesses,experts, persons, etc.

The Internet is becoming an advertisement media to reach globallypopulated web users. Advertisements can be included in a web page thatis frequently visited by web users. Typically, the advertisementsincluded in the web pages contain only a limited amount of information(e.g., a small paragraph, an icon, etc.). The advertisements containlinks to the web sites that provide further detailed information. Incertain arrangements, the advertisers pay the advertisements based onthe number of visits directed to their web sites by the links of theadvertisements.

Performance based advertising generally refers to a type of advertisingin which an advertiser pays only for a measurable event that is a directresult of an advertisement being viewed by a consumer. For example, paidinclusion advertising is a form of performance-based search advertising.With paid inclusion advertising, an advertisement is included within asearch result page of a key word search. Each selection (“click”) of theadvertisement from the results page is the measurable event for whichthe advertiser pays. In other words, payment by the advertiser is on aper click basis.

Another form of performance-based advertising includes paid placementadvertising. Paid placement advertising is similar to paid inclusionadvertising in that payment is on a per click basis. However, with paidplacement advertising an advertiser ranks a particular advertisement sothat it appears or is placed at a particular spot, e.g., at the top of asearch engine result page, thereby to increase the odds of theadvertisement being selected.

Both forms of performance-based advertising, i.e., paid placement andpaid inclusion, suffer from the limitation that an advertiser orparticipant within a paid placement or paid inclusion advertisingprogram is required to have a web presence, in the form of a web page.However, there are advertisers that either (a) do not have web pages, or(b) have web pages that are not effective at capturing the value of aweb visitor, and are therefore unable, or unwilling, to participate inthe traditional performance-based advertising, as described above.

SUMMARY OF THE DESCRIPTION

Methods and apparatuses for advertising are described here, where theadvertisement performance is determined via tracking the communicationleads generated from the advertisements. Some embodiments are summarizedin this section.

One embodiment includes: providing an advertisement on behalf of aspecific party; and charging an advertisement fee responsive to acustomer making a request for an in person communication with thespecific party via the advertisement.

The present disclosure includes methods and apparatuses which performthese methods, including data processing systems which perform thesemethods, and computer readable media which when executed on dataprocessing systems cause the systems to perform these methods.

Other features will be apparent from the accompanying drawings and fromthe detailed description which follows.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The disclosure is illustrated by way of example and not limitation inthe figures of the accompanying drawings in which like referencesindicate similar elements.

FIG. 1 shows how clients and advertisers interact with each other usinga paid placement, or a paid inclusion advertising model, in accordancewith the prior art.

FIG. 2 shows an interaction between clients and advertisers, inaccordance with one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 shows a flowchart of operations performed in accordance with oneembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 shows a high level functional description of a system inaccordance with one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 illustrates the Account Creation and Management module of thesystem, in greater detail.

FIG. 6 illustrates the Advertisement Publication Module of the system,in greater detail.

FIG. 7 illustrates the Call Handling Module of the system, in greaterdetail.

FIG. 8A shows an example of a user interface that may be presented to auser during advertisement creation, in accordance with one embodiment ofthe present invention.

FIG. 8B shows a campaign management interface that is presented to auser, in accordance with one embodiment.

FIG. 9 shows an example of a search engine result page, which includesan advertisement generated, in accordance with one embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIG. 10 shows an example of an email alert that is sent to anadvertiser, when a call is generated, in accordance with one embodimentof the invention.

FIG. 11 shows a high level hardware block diagram of a system that maybe used to implement the system, in accordance with one embodiment ofthe invention.

FIGS. 12-18 describe processes in accordance with embodiments of theinvention to track/credit demand partners.

FIG. 19 shows a diagram of a system to make and track phone connectionsaccording to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 20 shows a diagram of a system to make offline selection ofadvertisers according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 21 shows a diagram of a telephone connection system for offlineselection of advertisers according to one embodiment of the presentinvention.

FIGS. 22-25 show flow diagrams of making and tracking phone connectionsaccording to embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 26 shows a diagram of a system to make and track phone connectionsfrom a mobile device according to one embodiment of the presentinvention.

FIGS. 27-28 show flow diagrams of making and tracking phone connectionsaccording to embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 29 illustrates ways to provide advertisements via an audio capableportal according to embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 30 illustrates a way to provide an advertisement and to connect acustomer and an advertiser according to embodiments of the presentinvention.

FIG. 31 illustrates an example of connecting a caller and an advertiseraccording to one embodiment.

FIG. 32 illustrates a process to advertise according to one embodimentof the present invention.

FIG. 33 illustrates another process to advertise according to oneembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 34 illustrates a user interface for the creation of anadvertisement according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 35 illustrates advertising models according to embodiments of thepresent invention.

FIG. 36 shows an advertising method according to one embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIG. 37 shows examples of delivering communication leads according toembodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 38 shows an advertising process according to one embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIG. 39 shows a system including a connection server configured on apacket switched network according to one embodiment.

FIG. 40 shows a connection server according to one embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In the following description, for purposes of explanation, numerousspecific details are set forth in order to provide a thoroughunderstanding of the description. It will be apparent, however, to oneskilled in the art that the invention can be practiced without thesespecific details. In other instances, structures and devices are shownin block diagram form in order to avoid obscuring the description.

Reference in this specification to “one embodiment” or “an embodiment”means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic describedin connection with the embodiment is included in at least one embodimentof the invention. The appearances of the phrase “in one embodiment” invarious places in the specification are not necessarily all referring tothe same embodiment, nor are separate or alternative embodimentsmutually exclusive of other embodiments. Moreover, various features aredescribed which may be exhibited by some embodiments and not by others.Similarly, various requirements are described which may be requirementsfor some embodiments but not other embodiments.

In the disclosure, the term “advertisement” may refer to variousdifferent forms of presentations to attract attention or patronage. Anadvertisement may be simply a listing of identity and contactinformation (e.g., in a web page, a print media, a telephonic listingservice, etc.), or a passage including one or more statements aboutbusiness offering, etc., or a banner with graphical content and/oranimation embedded in a web page, or a voice message presented in avoice channel (e.g., radio broadcasting, a voice portal with InteractiveVoice Response (IVR), which may accept user input through voicerecognition or through keypad input generated Dual Tone Multi-Frequency(DTMF) signals), or others.

FIG. 1 of the drawings illustrates how clients and advertisers interactwith each other in accordance with the paid placement, and paidinclusion advertising models of the prior art. Referring to FIG. 1, anumber of clients indicated by reference numeral 10 are coupled to awide area network (WAN) 14, such as the Internet via a communicationspath 12. Advertisers 16 are coupled to the WAN 14 via a communicationspath 18. The communications paths 12 and 18 may support the TCP/IPprotocols, in one embodiment. Each advertiser 16 has a web page 20 whichin accordance with the paid placement, and paid inclusion advertisingmodels described above, may be included in a results page of a key wordsearch initiated by a user of a client 10, which search is performed byan online search engine 19. Based on the paid placement, or the paidinclusion models, the web page 20 of an advertiser 16 is included withina results page compiled by the search engine 19 and sent via thecommunications path 12 to the client 10 that initiated the search, sothat the web page 20 may be selected or viewed by a user of the client10 that requested the search. As noted above, if an advertiser 16 doesnot have a web page 20, or does not have a web page 20 that is effectiveat capturing the value of a web visitor, then currently, such anadvertiser may not participate, or effectively participate, inperformance-based marketing such as paid placement, and paid inclusionprograms.

Further, the techniques disclosed herein are not limited to publishingor providing advertisements for the advertisers 16 through web pages.Thus, in alternative embodiments, the unique telephone number assignedto an advertiser may be published or provided using a directory withoutthe creation of a web page for the advertiser. The directory may be anexisting directory or a new directory. The placement or ranking of thetelephone number within the directory may be controlled through rankingtechniques described below.

Referring now to FIG. 2 of the drawings, a method for allowingadvertisers to participate in a pay per call advertising program,without requiring that the advertisers have a web presence, inaccordance with one embodiment, is illustrated. As will be seen, theclients 10 are coupled to the WAN 14 via the communications path 12, asbefore. However, the communications path between the advertisers 16 andthe WAN 14 is purely optional. In other words, the techniques of thepresent invention, allow an advertiser 16 to participate in aperformance-based advertising program without the requirement that theadvertiser 16 be coupled to the WAN 14 via the communications path 18.In fact, in accordance with the techniques disclosed herein, it is notnecessary that the advertisers 16 have web pages. Instead, in accordancewith the techniques disclosed herein, an alternative non-web basedcommunications path 22 is provided between the clients 10 and theadvertisers 16. According to embodiments of the present invention, thenon-web based communications path 22 may be provided by a conventionaltelephone network. Alternatively, the non-web based communications path22 may utilize Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP) technology to couplea client through switches of the network 14, and switches of a publictelephone network, in a manner that does not require the advertisers 16to have a connection to the network 14. In addition, the advertisercould be notified via other media channels, such as email, chat, instantmessage, VoIP clients, etc.

FIG. 3 of the drawings illustrates a technique to establish the non-webbased communications path 22 of FIG. 2, in accordance with oneembodiment. Referring to FIG. 3, at block 26, a unique telephone numberis assigned to an advertiser 16. Thereafter, at block 28, anadvertisement associated with the advertiser 16 is provisioned orpublished on a publication or media channel on behalf of the advertiser.The advertisement includes either the unique telephone number, or areference to the unique telephone number. At block 30, telephone callsto the unique telephone number are monitored, as will be described. Atblock 32, the advertiser is charged based on the phone call activitythrough the assigned telephone number, as will be described.

FIG. 4 of the drawings shows a functional description of a system toimplement the method of FIG. 3. Referring to FIG. 4, the system includesaccount creation and management module 34, advertisement publicationmodule 36, call handling module 38, and billing module 40. Inalternative embodiments, additional, less, or different modules may beincluded in the system without departing from the invention.

The components of the account creation and management module 34, inaccordance with one embodiment, are shown in more detail in FIG. 5 ofthe drawings. Referring to FIG. 5, it will be seen that the accountcreation and management module 34 includes a user interface module 44,an advertisement creation module 46, and a payment specification module48. The user interface module 44 includes logic to present informationto a user, and to receive information from the user. For example, in oneembodiment, the user interface module 44 causes a web page such as theweb page 112 of FIG. 8 to be displayed on a browser of a client.

The advertisement creation module 46 includes text creation logic 50.The purpose of text creation logic 50 is to allow an advertiser 16, oran agent working on behalf of an advertiser 16, to input text for anadvertisement which is ultimately created by the advertisement creationmodule 46. In order to enhance understanding of the present invention,for the remainder of this description, a local business enterprisecalled “Burt's Plumbing” will be used as an example of an advertiserthat may benefit from the techniques disclosed herein. Burt's Plumbingmay or not have direct connectivity to the network 14. If Burt'sPlumbing does not have direct connectivity to the network 14, then arepresentative of Burt's Plumbing (hereinafter “Burt”) will have to gainaccess to a computer that does have connectivity to the network 14 inorder to view the web page 112 of FIG. 8A. For example, Burt could use acomputer of a friend, a computer at a local library, etc. In anotherembodiment, a search operator, an Internet yellow page provider or othertype of publisher could perform or administer this activity on behalf ofBurt. The text creation logic 50 allows Burt to input for e.g. the text“Burt's Plumbing in San Francisco. Check out our special deals,” whichwill be included in the advertisement when it is rendered. The module 46also includes key word association logic 57 that allows Burt to inputcertain key words which are then associated with Burt's advertisement.The idea here is that when one of the clients 10 initiates a searchthrough the search engine 19 using a key word that matches one of thekey words entered by Burt, then Burt's advertisement will be displayedwithin a result of the search. Since Burt's Plumbing is not a nationaloperation or enterprise it is necessary to display Burt's advertisementto clients within a certain geographic area. Thus, the module 46includes location determination logic 54 that builds a geographiclocation association to Burt's advertisement. In one embodiment, thelocation determination logic 54 allows Burt to select a particulargeographic location of interest, say for example San Francisco, so thatBurt's advertisement will be displayed to clients searching within theSan Francisco area.

In one embodiment, the module 46 also includes telephone number autogeneration logic 56 that automatically generates a unique telephonenumber, maps the unique telephone number to Burt's actual telephonenumber such that when the unique number is called, Bert's phone rings,and associates the unique phone number with Burt's advertisement. In oneembodiment, the telephone number is generated or selected from a pool ofnumbers at the time the advertisement is created; alternatively, thetelephone number is generated or selected at the time the advertisementis being requested for display. In one embodiment, the telephone numberthat is automatically generated, may be a toll free number. In oneembodiment, the telephone number may be a local number with the samearea code as Burt's actual telephone number. In one embodiment, thetelephone number may be an easily recognizable 800 number, modified by aunique extension mapped to Burt's business telephone number. Forexample, in one embodiment, a number could be the number“1-800-YEL-PAGES-1234.” The 1234 portion of the 800 number is the uniqueextension that is mapped to Burt's telephone number so that when asearcher calls the number 1 800 YEL PAGES-1234, the call will beautomatically routed to Burt's telephone as will be described in moredetail below.

In one embodiment, the telephone number (e.g., a traditional telephonenumber with or without an extension, or a VoIP-based telephonereference, such as a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) address) isautomatically generated or selected at the time the advertisement isbeing requested for display. Alternatively, the telephone numberassigned to the advertiser is generated or selected at the time thesystem accepts the submission of the advertisement from the advertiser.Alternatively, the telephone number assigned to the advertiser isgenerated or selected at the time the advertisement is being activatedfor publication via the system.

In one embodiment, the advertisement creation module 46, automaticallyinserts the unique telephone number assigned to Burt directly intoBurt's advertisement. Alternatively, click to call logic 58 may beinvoked in order to generate a button, or a clickable telephone number,which is automatically inserted into Burt's advertisement, so that whenthe button or telephone number is selected or clicked by a useroperating a client 10, a telephone call is automatically initiated toBurt's telephone number.

The module 46 also includes on/off logic 60 that allows Burt toselectively turn on or turn off an advertisement. Alternatively, theturn on/off logic 60 allows Burt to assign an active or an inactivestatus to a particular advertisement. When an advertisement is turnedoff or flagged as inactive, it is considered withdrawn, at leasttemporarily, from an advertisement campaign, and is therefore notpublished e.g. through the search engine 19. Alternatively, onlyadvertisements that are turned on, or have a status of “active” arepublished in accordance with the techniques disclosed herein.

The module 46 includes smart connect logic 62 that allows automaticrouting of calls to various telephone numbers. For example, Burt mayinclude a primary telephone number, and one or more secondary telephonenumbers to be associated with his advertisement. Thus, in oneembodiment, the smart connect logic 62 first routes the call to Burt'sprimary telephone number, and if no connection is achieved, then triescyclically through Burt's list of secondary telephone numbers, until aconnection is achieved.

The module 46 also includes arrange a call logic 64 that allows asearcher to input a time at which the searcher wishes to speak to Burt.The system then contacts Burt in order to arrange the call with thesearcher. Burt may be contacted in a variety of ways, for example bysending a facsimile to Burt, by sending an email to Burt, by telephoningBurt, etc. to alert him of the arranged telephone call. In alternativeembodiments, additional, less, or different logic may be included in theadvertisement creation module without departing from the invention.

The payment specification module 48, allows Burt to select a particularmodel and various parameters associated with billing. The module 48includes flat fee logic 66 that presents an option to Burt through theuser interface module 44, which if selected will cause Burt to be billedon a flat fee basis for each telephone call received within a particularcategory, or subcategory, or keyword. The module 48 also includes bidfor placement logic 68, that, through the user interface module 44,presents an option to Burt to choose to be billed on a bid-for-placementbasis, as described above. The logic 68 supports proxy bids, andmaximum/minimum bids.

The module 48 also includes spending level logic 70 that allows Burt tospecify daily/weekly/monthly spending levels. The specified spendinglevel essentially defines a budget per time period such that if thebudget is exceeded within a particular time period, then Burt'sadvertisement will be automatically flagged as inactive or turned off,for the remainder of the time period. Burt is notified of this activityby the system and Burt is given the option of reactivating hisadvertisement by adding additional funds to his account. Alternatively,Burt may provide payment information (e.g., a credit card number or bankaccount) to the system such that the system can automatically transferadditional funds, when needed, to his account according to the paymentinformation.

In one embodiment, the billing module 40 includes logic to automaticallywaive charges for leads (calls) from searchers/customers who have calledBurt recently. For example, if a customer calls on one day, and thendials the same number for a follow-up call a day later, the systemautomatically waives the charge for the second call since this lead hasalready been paid for. Thus, the advertiser (Burt) does not have to beconcerned about a customer using the advertised telephone number morethan once and causing multiple charges. In one embodiment, the system ofthe present invention may be configured to waive the charges on leadsfrom customers who have already called a particular advertiser within aspecified number of days. In alternative embodiments, additional, less,or different logic may be included in the system.

Referring now to FIG. 6 of the drawings, the components of theadvertisement publication module 36, are shown in greater detail. Aswill be seen, the module 36 includes an advertisement engine 74, and anadvertisement syndication engine 76. The purpose of the advertisementengine 74 is to automatically provide Burt's advertisement on aparticular channel. In some embodiments, the advertisement engine 74causes a campaign management interface 113 (see FIG. 8B of the drawings)to be displayed to an advertiser. The interface 113 allows theadvertiser to optionally choose a channel, e.g., Ingenio, and a categoryin which the advertisement is to be provisioned/published. The interface113 allows the advertiser to specify the maximum bid amount that theadvertiser is willing to pay to provision the advertisement using theselected channel and category. FIG. 9 of the drawings shows an exampleof a web page 112 within which includes an advertisementrendered/provisioned in accordance with the techniques described herein.In one embodiment, this publication channel may be a web-basedpublication channel which is operated by an operator of the system ofthe present invention.

Alternatively, the syndication engine 76 may be used to syndicate Burt'sadvertisement to a number of third parties that host publicationchannels selected by Burt. Thus, in one embodiment, the syndicationengine 76 may cause Burt's advertisement to be syndicated to third partysearch engines, Internet yellow pages, online directories, and othermedia.

As will be seen in FIG. 6 of the drawings, the advertisement engine 74includes price per call logic 78, activity history logic 80, call statuslogic 82, connection success logic 84, manual indexing logic 86, andrandom logic 88. Each of the logic components 78-88 controls a parameterthat forms a basis of how Burt's advertisement is ultimately provided.The price per call logic 78 causes Burt's advertisement to be publishedon a price per call basis. Thus, for example, if Burt is willing only topay a low amount for each call, then his advertisement will be placed orranked low down within a search result page or category of advertisers.Alternatively, if Burt is willing to pay a high price per call, then hisadvertisement will be placed higher up in the search result page orcategory of advertisers. The table below shows how the price per calllogic 78 would rank or place advertisers within a channel based on a bidamount per call that an advertiser is willing to pay: PlacementAdvertiser (Bid Amount per call) 1 800-349-2398 ($3.88) 2 866-324-3242($3.22) 3 800-323-5321 ($2.01)

The activity history logic 80 analyzes the number of calls Burt receivedin a give time period, for example, the last day/week/month, and willrank Burt's advertisement within a display page based on the activityhistory. The call status logic 82, examines the status (active orinactive) of Burt's advertisement, and selectively publishes Burt'sadvertisement based on the status. The connection success logic 84measures a connection success rate for calls to the telephone numberassigned to Burt's advertisement and ranks Burt's advertisement within adisplay page based on the connection success rate. For example, ifBurt's telephone number enjoys a low connection success rate then thelogic 84 will cause Burt's advertisement to be ranked lowly within apublication page. The manual indexing logic 86 allows an operator tomanually index or rank Burt's advertisement within a publication page.The random logic 88 allows Burt's advertisement to be randomly ranked orplaced within a result page. In one embodiment, the ranking of Burt'sadvertisement within a display page may be based on any combination ofthe parameters controlled by the logic components 78-88, which may bedictated by a third party who employs the system. In alternativeembodiments, additional, less, or different logic may be included in theadvertisement engine 74 without departing from the invention.

In one embodiment, an advertisement engine 74 further includes one ormore modules for searching advertisements according to a query request,sorting advertisements, allocating real time communication references(e.g., traditional telephone numbers, SIP address, user ID of instantmessaging system, etc.).

Referring now to FIG. 7 of the drawings, the components within the callhandling module 38 include a call routing engine 92, and a callmonitoring engine 94. As will be seen, the call routing engine 92includes redirect logic 96 to cause redirection of a telephone call tothe number assigned to Burt's advertisement. The redirection is to atelephone number specified by Burt during creation of the advertisementusing the advertisement creation module 46. The call routing engine 92also includes VoIP logic 98 to route a telephone call to or from aclient to a telephone number specified by Burt in the advertisementusing VoIP technology.

The call routing engine 92 may also include prompt logic 99 that causesa prompt to be played to a caller before routing of a telephone call toBurt's telephone number. In one embodiment, the prompt logic 99 plays aninformation prompt to the caller to inform the caller of Burt's actualtelephone number. Thus, the caller may, in future, call Burt directlyusing Burt's actual telephone number instead of the telephone numberassigned to Burt by the system. In such cases, Burt will not be billedby the system for telephone calls to his actual telephone number. In oneembodiment, the prompt logic 99 may also cause an information prompt tobe played to Burt to inform Burt of the source of the telephone call. Insome cases, the prompt logic 99 may cause an email or facsimile alert tobe automatically generated and sent to an advertiser, in order to informthe advertiser of the telephone number of the caller. An example of suchan email is shown in FIG. 10 of the drawings and is marked as referencenumeral 116. In alternative embodiments, additional, less, or differentlogic may be included in the call routing engine 92 without departingfrom the invention.

The call monitoring engine 94 includes call number logic 100 to trackthe number of calls generated in response to Burt's advertisement. Thecall monitoring engine 94 also includes Automatic Number Identification(ANI) logic 102 to identify the number of unique numbers of callers thatcall Burt, automatically. The call monitoring engine also includes calllength logic 104 that monitors the length of each call to Burt.Connection status logic 108 monitors whether a call is successful,whether an engaged or busy tone is encountered, or whether Burt simplydid not answer his telephone. Based on information supplied by logiccomponents 100 106, a report is compiled and may be viewed by Burt. Inone embodiment, the report includes a number of calls, the number ofcalls from unique telephone numbers, the telephone numbers of thecallers, the length of each call, and the number of calls that weresuccessful, for which an engaged tone was returned, or that wentunanswered. In one embodiment, the report provides additionalinformation based on an address lookup of the ANI, including but notlimited to demographic, socioeconomic, and psychometric information. Thereport may be used by Burt in order to monitor the effectiveness of anadvertisement campaign, and to optimize the campaign. In alternativeembodiments, additional, less, or different logic may be included in thecall monitoring engine 94 without departing from the invention.

In one embodiment, the advertising publication module may publish theadvertisement on a telephone-based advertising service. For example, theadvertisement can be delivered to a consumer through audio as part of avoice portal or telephone-based directory such as a 411 telephonedirectory.

Referring to FIG. 11 of the drawings, reference numeral 150 generallyindicates hardware that may be used to implement the above-describedsystem. The hardware 150 typically includes at least one processor 152coupled to the memory 154. The processor 152 may represent one or moreprocessors (e.g., microprocessors), and the memory 154 may representrandom access memory (RAM) devices comprising a main storage of thehardware 150, as well as any supplemental levels of memory e.g., cachememories, non-volatile or back-up memories (e.g. programmable or flashmemories), read-only memories, etc. In addition, the memory 154 may beconsidered to include memory storage physically located elsewhere in thehardware 150, e.g. any cache memory in the processor 152, as well as anystorage capacity used as a virtual memory, e.g., as stored on a massstorage device 160.

The hardware 150 also typically receives a number of inputs and outputsfor communicating information externally. For interface with a user oroperator, the hardware 150 may include one or more user input devices156 (e.g., a keyboard, a mouse, etc.) and a display 158 (e.g., a CathodeRay Tube (CRT) monitor, a Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) panel).

For additional storage, the hardware 150 may also include one or moremass storage devices 160, e.g., a floppy or other removable disk drive,a hard disk drive, a Direct Access Storage Device (DASD), an opticaldrive (e.g. a Compact Disk (CD) drive, a Digital Versatile Disk (DVD)drive, etc.) and/or a tape drive, among others. Furthermore, thehardware 150 may include an interface with one or more networks 162(e.g., a local area network (LAN), a wide area network (WAN), a wirelessnetwork, and/or the Internet among others) to permit the communicationof information with other computers coupled to the networks. It shouldbe appreciated that the hardware 150 typically includes suitable analogand/or digital interfaces between the processor 152 and each of thecomponents 154, 156, 158 and 162 as is well known in the art.

The hardware 150 operates under the control of an operating system 164,and executes various computer software applications 166, components,programs, objects, modules, etc. (e.g. a program or module whichperforms operations described above. Moreover, various applications,components, programs, objects, etc. may also execute on one or moreprocessors in another computer coupled to the hardware 150 via a network152, e.g. in a distributed computing environment, whereby the processingrequired to implement the functions of a computer program may beallocated to multiple computers over a network.

As discussed above, the syndicate engine 76 is used to syndicate Burt'sadvertisement to a number of third parties. These demand partners (alsoreferred to herein as syndication partners) can receive a percentage ofthe advertising revenue generated via the pay-per-call method and systemdescribed, herein. Thus, as in the example of the table above, theadvertiser of placement 1 pays $3.88 per call received to phone number800-349-2398. Now suppose the call to the advertiser of placement 1,resulted from an advertisement presented on a demand partner's website.The demand partner would be entitled to a percentage of that $3.88. Thepresent method and system offers multiple embodiments for tracking,monitoring, and determining demand partner compensation.

In one embodiment, described in the flow diagram of FIG. 12, in process1202 an advertiser (also referred to herein as a merchant or listing) isgiven a separate telephone number for each separate demand partner thatis posting the merchant's advertisement. As described herein, inmultiple embodiments, telephonic references, including telephone numbersand telephone extensions corresponding to a base telephone number, areassigned using the telephone number auto generation logic 56.

In one embodiment, the alias phone number is mapped to the advertiser'sactual phone number, and calls made to the alias are monitored in orderto track the respective demand partners. Therefore, in process 1204billing module 40 tracks and/or credits demand partners a percentage ofthe revenue charged to the advertiser (or collected from the advertiser)for calls placed to the advertiser's alias telephone numbercorresponding to the respective demand partner.

In another embodiment, described in the flow diagram of FIG. 13, inprocess 1302 an advertiser receives a single/base (the same) telephonenumber for a set of the demand partners. In process 1304, a separateextension is assigned to the advertiser for each of the separate demandpartners. More specifically, the separate demand partners list the sametelephone number for the advertiser, but also include an extensionunique to the respective demand partner. For example, a listing couldhave the number “(800) new-cars” for the set of demand partners, buteach demand partner posting the common telephone number for theadvertiser would also provide a separate extension corresponding to therespective demand partner (e.g., ext. 102 corresponding to the XYZsyndication partner, ext. 104 corresponding to the ABC syndicationpartner, etc.) In process 1306, billing module 40 tracks and/or creditsa demand partner a percentage of the revenue charged to the advertiser(or collected from the advertiser), for calls placed to the advertiservia the telephone extension corresponding to the respective demandpartner.

In an alternative embodiment, described in the flow diagram of FIG. 14,in process 1402 a demand partner uses a base telephone (i.e., a single)number for a set of advertisers. In process 1404, the demand partnerprovides a separate extension to each of the advertisers using the samebase number. For example, the demand partner could use the telephonenumber (800) Call XYZ for a set of advertisers, and provide theextension 102 for Joe's plumbing, and extension 104 for Carl's plumbing,etc. In process 1406, billing module 40 tracks and/or credits a demandpartner a percentage of the revenue charged to the advertiser (orcollected from the advertiser), for calls placed to the advertiser viathe base telephone number corresponding to the respective demand partnerand the unique telephone extension assigned to the advertiser at therespective demand partner.

According to another embodiment, a click-to-reveal method is proposed,as described in co-pending U.S. Patent Application No. 60/552,124,entitled “A Method and Apparatus to Provide Pay-Per-Call PerformanceBased Advertising and Billing” filed on Mar. 10, 2004, hereinincorporated by reference. As described in the flow diagram of FIG. 15,in process 1502 a user is presented with an advertisement via a demandpartner's website. The advertisement does not show the advertiser'scomplete phone number, but instead contains a hyperlink to reveal theadvertiser's phone number, or the remaining portion of the telephonenumber. In process 1504, the advertisement engine 74 monitors the numberof click-throughs to reveal the advertiser's number. In one embodiment,it is assumed that each click-through from a demand partner results in acall to the respective advertiser. As a result, in process 1506 billingmodule 40 tracks and/or calculates an amount to credit a demand partnerbased at least in part on a number of click-throughs to reveal anadvertiser's telephone number.

In yet another alternative embodiment, a demand partner is provided witha click to call format. In one embodiment, as described in the flowdiagram of FIG. 16, in process 1602 in addition to listing a telephonenumber for an advertiser (or in place of listing a telephone number forthe advertiser) a link (e.g., a hyperlink, or an icon, or a button) isprovided by the demand partner to initiate establishing a telephoneconnection between the viewer/customer and the advertiser in response tothe viewer/customer activating/selecting the hyperlink provided. In oneembodiment, in process 1604, in response to activating/selecting thehyperlink provided, the viewer/customer is prompted for their telephonenumber to establish the telephone connection with the advertiser. Afterthe customer enters their telephone number, a telephone connection isestablished between the customer and the advertiser.

In yet another embodiment, if the viewer/customer has a VoIPcommunications device, VoIP logic 98 may connect the advertiser to theviewer/customer without the need for the customer/viewer to providetheir telephone number. The VoIP communications device includestelephony devices attached to the user's computer, as well as mobilecommunication devices, such as PDA's and cellular phones.

In the embodiment employing a click to call (for PSTN and VoIPconnections), in process 1604, a demand partner providing the click tocall option would be tracked/credited (i.e., a percentage of the chargeto the advertiser) each time a viewer/customer selects/activates a clickto call icon for the respective advertiser.

In another embodiment, described in the flow diagram of FIG. 17, inprocess 1702 an advertiser is given one telephone number for a set ofdemand partners. In process 1704, credits to the demand partners forcalls placed to the advertiser's listed telephone number are proratedbased on a number of page views for the advertiser's telephone numberlisting via the respective demand partners. For example, if 70% of theadvertiser's page views are accessed via demand partner ABC, and 30% ofthe advertiser's page views are accessed via demand partner XYZ, the ABCdemand partner would receive 70% and the demand partner XYZ wouldreceive 30% of the credits payable to the demand partners for callsplaced to the advertiser's listed telephone number.

In another embodiment, described in the flow diagram of FIG. 18, inprocess 1802 at least a first set of advertisers are given uniquetelephonic reference for each demand partner. One or more advertisersare each given one telephonic reference for a set demand partners.

In process 1804, a statistical sampling of calls to advertisers with theunique telephonic reference is generated. In one embodiment, thestatistical sampling represents a sampling of a percentage of calls toan advertiser (or set of advertisers) that originate from anadvertisement listed by a first demand partner compared to calls thatoriginate from the same (or similar) advertisement listed by otherdemand partners. In one embodiment, the samplings may be separated basedon a category of advertisers (e.g., restaurants, automobiles, etc.).

In process 1806, the samplings are used as a basis fortracking/crediting the demand partners with a percentage of the chargesto at least a set of the advertisers. Consider the example advertisers 1and 2 are each give a unique telephone, and 70% of the calls toadvertisers 1 and 2 are from telephonic references listed by partnerABC. Given the example, an assumption is made that 70% of the calls tothe advertisers using a common number among the demand partners, areoriginated from advertisements listed by partner ABC.

Therefore, in one embodiment, based on the statistical sampling, partnerABC would be credited for 70% of the calls placed to the advertisersusing a common number among the demand partners. In one embodiment,tracking/crediting the demand partners based on the statistical samplingcould also be applied to the advertisers using unique numbers among thedemand partners.

As described above, telephone-call tracking is used to determine thenumber of phone calls a particular party, or directory, has received. Itcan be useful for a variety of purposes. It is particularly useful inmeasuring the success of advertising. For instance, a telephonedirectory may offer advertising placements to its advertisers, such asplumbers. By tracking the number of phone calls a particularadvertisement has received, the directory can demonstrate the value ofits advertising to the advertiser.

Telephone-call tracking can be used to measure the effectiveness of avariety of advertising vehicles in addition to the physical yellow-pagesphone book. Newspaper classifieds can utilize call tracking, as cantelevision commercials that display phone numbers for consumers to call.By counting the number of telephone calls such advertisements receive,the campaign's effectiveness can be measured. This is of benefit both tothe advertiser and to the directory/publisher.

Telephone-call tracking can be also used as such in directories that areonline, such as an online yellow pages. Similarly, it can be used totrack the success of online search advertising, such as keywordadvertising.

Telephone-call tracking is particularly useful in pay-for-performanceadvertising systems, as described in several embodiments above. Inpay-for-performance systems, advertisers pay when an advertisementperforms. For instance, an advertiser can pay $1 each time a potentialcustomer clicks on an online-search advertisement. Similarly, inpay-per-call advertising systems, such as that described in U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 10/872,117, filed Jun. 17, 2004, an advertiser'spayments are linked to the number of calls that advertiser receives. Insuch a pay per call advertising system, call tracking is vital, sincecounting the number of calls received determines the amount that theadvertiser must pay. In one embodiment, not only are the number of callsreceived counted but also the time of the call, since in one embodimentan advertiser may bid to pay a higher price per call in order to receivea more prominent placement for their advertisement.

In one embodiment, not only is it designed to track the number of callsand precise time of calls, but the demand source at which the callerviewed the advertisement may also be tracked. Online directories canhave many different external web sites through which they syndicate thesame advertisers, and it can be useful to know from which web site thephone call originated so that, in some cases, the directory cancompensate the external web site for having brought customers.Provisional U.S. Patent Application Ser. No. 60/560,926, filed on Apr.9, 2004, outlines this case.

Tracking phone calls may include publishing a unique phone number thatis different from the advertiser's standard phone number. When a callerviews the advertisement, the unique phone number appears, and the callerdials it. The call coming in on the unique phone number is thenrerouted, using the call tracker's telephony equipment, to theadvertiser's standard phone number. In addition to rerouting the call,the call tracker also records that a call was made and the precisetime/duration of the call. In a pay-per-call advertising system, thisinformation can be used to bill the advertiser for the call.

In cases where directories would also like to identify the demand sourceof the call, a single advertiser will have to be given multiple uniquephone numbers, one for each demand source where that advertiser appears.For instance, the advertisement of a single plumber might be displayedin two different online directories and three different online searchengines. In order to track which of these demand sources produced a callfrom a customer, the single plumber would have to be assigned fivedifferent unique telephone numbers. By monitoring which unique phonenumber was dialed, it can be determined which demand source deserves thecredit for producing the call.

In one embodiment, the unique telephone numbers assigned to anadvertiser and or a demand partner is for a short period of time afterthe listing of the advertiser containing the unique telephone numbers ispresented. After the time period, the telephone numbers can bere-assigned to other advertisers.

FIG. 19 shows a diagram of a system to make and track phone connectionsaccording to one embodiment of the present invention.

In FIG. 19, a database (1921) may contain the phone numbers of targetphone A (1931), target phone B (1933), . . . , target phone X (1939),etc. Typically, the target phones belong to the institutions,businesses, individuals, etc, which seek for publicity through variousmedia channels, such as media channel A (1901) (e.g., web server), mediachannel B (1902) (e.g., WAP server), media channel C (1903) (e.g., shortmessaging service center), media channel D (1904) (e.g., custom server),media channel E (1907) (e.g., cable television), media channel E (1908)(e.g., news press), media channel G (1909) (e.g., radio station), etc.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the phone numbers of thetarget phones are not directly publicized over the media channels.Instead, encoded target phone numbers (1923) are used. Using the encodedtarget phone numbers (1923), a user cannot reach target phones directly.The encoded target phone numbers (1923) allow the association ofadditional information with the target phone numbers, such as the mediachannels used, special promotions, etc.

The encoded target phone numbers are delivered with content information(e.g., web page, WAP page, short message, television programs, newsarticles, etc.) to user devices, such as user device A (1911) (e.g.,cellular phone), user device B (1912) (e.g., personal digital assistant(PDA)), user device C (1913) (e.g., computer), user device D (1916)(e.g., receiver), user device E (1918) (e.g., newspaper).

In one embodiment, a user device can include a USB phone, a Bluetoothwireless phone, or one or more speakers or headphones with one ormicrophones for the implementation of a software based phone.

In one embodiment, the user devices/phones support one or more real timecommunication capabilities, such as VoIP using Session InitiationProtocol (SIP) which may support video and instant-messagingapplications, IP phone, regular phone over VoIP service, Bluetoothwireless phone, USB phone, software based phone, and other forms of IPtelephony.

In one embodiment, the user device can include a television set toreceive the advertisement. Further, the television set may have thecapability to accept user input so that the television content may bechanged according to the user input (e.g., interactive television, webtelevision, internet television, etc.), or be coupled with a set top boxwhich has such capability. The user input may be provided to the contentprovider through the same communication channel in which the televisioncontent/programs are delivered (e.g., a cable system of a cabletelevision system), or a separate channel (e.g., a phone line, anInternet connection, etc.). The user input may include a request to makea connection to an advertiser featured in an advertisement presented ina television program, such as a request for a telephonic connection tothe advertiser.

In one embodiment, the user devices are mobile devices, such as PDA,cellular phone, etc. The user devices obtain content information,including advertisements, through wireless communication connections,such as cellular communication links, wireless access points forwireless local area network, etc.

In one embodiment, a user device (e.g., a cellular phone, a computer, aPDA) can receive content information from multiple types of mediachannels (e.g., a web server, a WAP server, an SMSC, CHTML, etc.).

In one embodiment, a user device is capable to dial a phone call (e.g.,automatically according to the encoded phone number embedded in thecontent information when a user selects the number). Alternatively, auser may manually dial a phone call using a separate phone, such as userphone S (1917) or user phone T (1919).

In one embodiment of the present invention, dialing at least a portionof an encoded target phone number connects the phone call to a phonedecoder and router (1925) first. According to the encoded target phonenumber dialed, the phone decoder and router (1925) determines thecorresponding target phone number using the database (1921) and connectsthe phone call to the corresponding target phone (e.g., one of targetphones 1931-1939) through the telephone network (1927).

Note the telephone network (1927) may be circuit switched, packetswitched, or partially circuit switched and partially packet switched.For example, the telephone network may partially use the Internet tocarry the phone call (e.g., through VoIP). For example, the connectionbetween the user phone/device and the phone decoder and router (1925)may be carried using VoIP; and the connection between the phone decoderand router (1925) may be carried using a land-line based, circuitswitched telephone network.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the information associatedwith the encoded target phone number, such as the media channel used toprovide the encoded target phone number to the users, is alsodecoded/retrieved using the database (1921). Thus, the informationassociated with the encoded target phone number can be tracked/stored.

In one embodiment, the phone decoder and router (1925) also determinesthe phone number of the user through Automatic Number Identification(ANI). ANI is a phone system feature that provides the billing phonenumber of the person making the phone call.

The information about the caller, target phone number, the media channelused for delivering the contact information to the user can be used tobill the caller and/or the target phone number, and providecredit/compensation for the corresponding media channel.

For example, the advertisements for target phone numbers can be paid foron a pay per call basis. Monitoring and tracking the calls can be usedfor billing the advertisers. Alternatively, the users may be seeking thecontact information on a pay per call basis. Monitoring and tracking thecalls can be used for billing the users.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the additional informationassociated with the encoded target phone number is used to providecredit/compensation to the operators of the corresponding media channelsthat are responsible for leading the users to the phone calls to thetarget phones. The system can further track the time and duration of thephone calls and other information, such as conditional promotions,electronic coupons, etc.

The information about the media channels that are responsible forleading the users to the phone calls to the target phones can also beuseful for the advertisers. The advertisers may wish to know which mediachannel is more effective in reaching users. For example, using thestatistic information about the media channels which successfully bringin phone calls, the advertisers may fine tune advertisement strategies.Further, different media channels may charge differently for theadvertisements; and the advertisers may bid differently on differentmedia channels for their advertisements.

In one embodiment of the present invention, an encoded target phonenumber has the same number of digits as a standard phone number (e.g., atypical telephone number assigned by a telephone company). Thus, dialingthe encoded target phone number is as easy as dialing the target phonenumber; and dialing the target phone number reaches the phone decoderand router (1925). In such an arrangement, a large number of encodedphone numbers are generally required to differentiate the differenttarget phones and different media channels.

In one embodiment of the present invention, an encoded target phonenumber has more digits than a standard phone number. A first portion ofthe encoded target phone number has the same number of digits as astandard phone number to reach the phone decoder and router (1925)through the telephone network (1927); and a second portion of theencoded target phone number is to be decoded by the phone decoder androuter (1925). For example, the Dual Tone Multi-Frequency (DTMF) decodercan be installed in the phone decoder and router (1925) to detect thesecond portion of the encoded target phone number dialed at the userphone. The detected phone number can then be used to recover the targetphone number. In one embodiment, a human operator or an interactivevoice response (IVR) system can be used to receive the second portion ofthe encoded target phone number for decoding.

When an encoded target phone number has more digits than a standardphone number, the additional digits can be implemented as a telephoneextension, or as input to an IVR system. In one embodiment, an encodedtarget phone number includes a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) addressfor the initiation of a VoIP call to the system.

In one embodiment of the present invention, a single telephone number isused to reach the phone decoder and router (1925) for different targetphone numbers; and the portion of the encoded target phone number thatis used to reach the phone decoder and router (1925) is not used indetermining the information associated with the encoded target phonenumber.

Alternatively, multiple telephone numbers can be used to reach the phonedecoder and router (1925); and the entire encoded target phone numbercan be used to determine the information associated with the encodedtarget phone number.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the encoded target phonenumbers can have different numbers of digits. The advertisers may bearranged to bid for shorter encoded target phone numbers.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the encoded target phonenumbers are assigned only when needed for use in a media channel. Forexample, when a query is received at the server of the system, thesystem assigns phone numbers for the advertisements that satisfy thequery.

In one embodiment, a look-up table approach is used to encode theinformation. For example, the database (1921) keeps track of theinformation about the media channel and the target phone number (andother information, if any) for the encoded target phone number so thatthe encoded target phone number can be used as a key to retrieve thecorresponding information. Thus, it is not necessary to have apredetermined structure to encode the information about the mediachannels and the target phone number.

Alternatively, algorithms can be used to generate and encode targetphone number and associated information. For example, a predeterminedalgorithm may be used to encode different information in the targetphone number. For example, the target phone number may include a numberof fields separated by “*” or “#”. Each of the fields can be decodedseparately (e.g., from a separate look up table or a mapping algorithm)to determine the target phone number, identity of the media channel,etc.

For example, a set of parameters can be mapped from a string ofcharacters to a string of numerical digits as a part of the encodedtarget phone number; and the string of numbers can be mapped back intothe string of characters at the phone decoder and router (1925). Whensuch a mapping scheme is used, a look up table is not necessary. Forexample, an encoded target phone number may include a first portion thatis the phone number of the phone decoder and router (1925), a secondportion that is the target phone number appended with a number mappedfrom an identifier of the media channel. To prevent the user fromdialing the target phone number directly, an encryption/scramblingscheme can be used to encode the second portion, which is decoded at thephone decoder and router (1925).

In one embodiment of the present invention, the phone decoder and router(1925) determines the target phone number from the encoded target phonenumber dialed by the user and then dials the target phone number for theuser and joins/bridges the phone calls so that the user can talk to thetarget phone.

In one embodiment of the present invention, users dial the encodedtarget phone numbers manually. A user can dial the encoded target phonenumber regardless of the user device used and the media channel used.

Alternatively, in one embodiment, user devices can automatically dialthe encoded target phone numbers. For example, a cellular phone, acomputer or a PDA can dial a phone number using a Dual ToneMulti-Frequency (DTMF) generator. In one embodiment of the presentinvention, the encoded target phone numbers are presented in the contentinformation in a format such that when the user selects the phone numberthe user device (e.g., a cellular phone or a computer) dials the encodedtarget phone number for the user. The user selection may be in the formof an keyboard/keypad input, a touch pad input, a track ball input, amouse input, a voice command, etc.

In one embodiment, the user device initiates the phone call through aVoIP system when the user selects the encoded target phone number.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the user device dials thephone number for the user without the user manually pressing thesequence of the encoded target phone numbers. This greatly simplifiesthe process of make the phone call. Since a user device can dial a longsequence of number easily, a large number of digits can be used toencode the information without presenting any difficulties for theusers.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the encoded target phonenumbers are formatted so that the user device dials a first portion ofthe encoded target phone numbers to access the phone decoder and router(1925), pauses for a short period of time for the phone decoder androuter (1925) to prepare for receiving the second portion of the encodedtarget phone numbers, and then dials the second portion of the encodedtarget phone numbers. Thus, the user device provides a user-friendly wayof dialing the encoded target phone numbers; and, making the phone callcan be as easy as making a “click” to access a web page.

In FIG. 19, the user device initiates the phone call. Alternatively, aphone router may be used to initiate phone calls both to the user device(or a separate user phone) and the target phone and then join/bridge thephone calls to connect the user to the target phone. For example, whenthe user selects the encoded target phone number, the selection of thetarget phone number is transmitted to the phone router with the userphone number.

The user phone number can be automatically determined through ANI, orthrough a user preference setting, or through an entry submitted withthe selection of the encoded target phone number.

In one embodiment, the selection of the encoded target phone number istransmitted to the corresponding media channel, which forwards therequest for making the phone call to a server (e.g., a web server)connected to the phone router. Alternatively, the content informationcan be formatted so that the selection is sent directly to the serverthat is connected to the phone router.

When the router starts the phone calls, the encoded target phone numbercan also include alphabetic characters (and/or other characters). Theserver and/or the phone router can decode the encoded target phonenumber to recover/retrieve the target phone number and other associatedinformation, such as the identity of the media channel that iscreditable for providing the encoded target phone number to user.

In one embodiment of the present invention, an advertisement ispresented to end users around the globe without geographical arealimitations. For example, an advertiser may provide services and/orproducts to customers around the globe. The advertisement may bedelivered to the worldwide users of the Internet.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the intended audience of anadvertisement is the population in a particular geographical area orpeople interested in a particular geographical area. For example, anadvertiser may limit its service area within a geographical area, wherethe advertiser can provide services and/or products to the customersmore effectively. For example, a business may better serve the customerswithin a convenient walking/driving distance to the site of thebusiness. A business may limit the service area within a city, a county,a state, a country, or other types of regional areas. Further, a largebusiness entity having offices around the world may want to attractcustomers in different geographical regions to different offices forbetter services.

In one embodiment of the present invention, a target geographic area isspecified for publicizing a phone number which can be used to reach anadvertiser. The target geographic area information can be used toeffectively reach potential customers and connect the customers to thecorresponding phones of the advertisers.

For example, in one embodiment, the advertiser can specify a geographicservice area corresponding to a phone number. The service area may bespecified in terms of radius, city, region, state or national boundary,etc. The service area can be used to limit the delivery of theadvertisement to customers seeking information in the correspondinggeographic area. The service area can be used to stream information intoa mobile device when the mobile device enters the service area, with orwithout explicit request from the user of the mobile device. The servicearea information can also be used to route the phone to thecorresponding one of the offices of the advertiser, based on thelocation of the caller, if the advertiser has more than one office.

In one embodiment of the present invention, an advertisement presentedin a media channel is for a single advertiser. The end user selects anadvertiser according to the advertisements presented on behalf ofindividual advertisers; and the phone decoder and router connects theend user and the selected advertiser according to the encoded targetphone number individually publicized in the advertisement for theadvertiser. When the user views the online advertisements, the selectionof the advertiser is based on the online information.

In one embodiment of the present invention, an advertisement ispresented in a media channel for a group of advertisers, such as a groupof mortgage brokers. The advertisement contains an encoded target phonenumber which is reachable to the group of mortgage brokers. When theencoded target phone number is selected or used, the selection of aparticular advertiser is performed at the phone decoder and router.

For example, a toll-free number is published to advertise mortgagebrokers in a particular geographic area. When a consumer dials thetoll-free number, the call is routed to the highest bidding mortgagebroker who is available in that market.

The phone decoder and router may select the target advertiser accordingto the bidding of the advertisers for the advertisement. The advertiserwho places the highest bid is the winner for the call. Alternatively, orin combination, other types of selection criteria can also be used. Forexample, the user may be interested in advertisers in a particulargeographical region; and the geographical area of interest to the callercan be determined and used in selecting the target advertiser. Further,the user may be interested in a connection without excessive waitingtime. The status of the availability of the advertisers to answer thecall can be used in ranking the candidates for routing the call.

In general, an indicator used to rank the candidates may be a functionof a number of parameters, such as the bid for the advertisement, theprojected waiting time, an indicator showing a degree of matching to oneor more user requirements (e.g., geographic area, service type, etc.),advertisement budget, and others.

FIG. 20 shows a diagram of a system to make offline selection ofadvertisers according to one embodiment of the present invention.

In FIG. 20, the advertisement (2001) is for an advertiser group T (2007)which includes a number of different advertisers, such as advertiser A(2021), advertiser B (2023), advertiser X (2029), etc. For example, theadvertisers of the group may offer the same types of services orproducts under similar terms and/or prices. Thus, a unifiedadvertisement can be presented on behalf of the entire group. Theadvertisement delivery (2005) can be in any of the forms known in theart. For example, the advertisement can be delivered through newspaper,radio, television, yellow book, listing service, web search engine, website banner, WAP, SMS, etc. The advertisement contains phone number M(2003) for the users to initiate a phone call to reach one of theadvertisers.

In one embodiment, the advertised phone number (e.g., 2003) can alsocontain extension digits in addition to toll-free digits. In oneembodiment, the extension digits are used to convey additionalinformation such as geography, category, or the ability to tracespecific advertising creative (e.g., the call resulted from theadvertisement on the billboard on Second Street). In one embodiment,dialing of the extension digits (or some of the extension digits) isoptional; if the extension digits are not dialed, the call goes throughanyway; and the information corresponding to the extension digits is notcollected (or, similar information is extracted/extrapolated from otherdata sources, such as the phone number from which the call is initiated,etc.).

In one embodiment of the present invention, the phone number M (2003) isnot specifically for a particular advertiser at the time theadvertisement is presented. Thus, at the time the user initiates thephone call, the target advertiser is yet to be determined. The selectionof a particular target advertiser is after the initiation of the phonecall.

In one embodiment of the present invention, a switch/router (2000) atthe phone number M is used to connect the users to the advertisersdynamically according to the information in the advertiser database(2009). When a user, such as user A (2011), user B (2013), user S(2019), etc., calls the phone number M (2003), the user is connected tothe switch/router (2000) first. With or without further user input, theswitch/router (2000) connects the call to an advertiser, such asadvertiser A (2021), advertiser B (2023), advertiser X (2029), etc. Theadvertiser is charged based on the telephone calls generated for theadvertiser. In one embodiment, the selection of the advertiser is madeat the switch/router after the user phone call is received. Theswitch/router may operate via switching circuits or changingcommunication data packets.

Alternatively, information about the user phone number and the desire tomake the phone call according to the advertised phone number can betransmitted to the switch/router through a communication link other thana phone connection. For example, an email, a fax, an HTTP (HyperTextTransfer Protocol)/WAP(Wireless Application Protocol) request, etc., canbe used to submit the request for the phone connection. Theswitch/router then initiates the phone call to the user and the phonecall to the selected winning advertiser and bridges the two calls.

Note that the phone number M (2003) may also be encoded in a way so thatthe information about the media channel which provides the phone numberto the user can be decoded, as discussed above. For example, differentmedia channels may be assigned different phone numbers for reaching thesame group of advertisers through the switch/router (2000). According tothe phone number in the advertisement, the switch/router (2000) candetermine the media channel that is creditable for the delivery of thephone number to the users.

In one embodiment of the present invention, a winning advertiser isselected according to the bidding for advertisement. The highest bidderwins the telephone call. The advertisers may adjust their bids anytimethrough any communication media to balance their chances to get a callresulting from the advertisement and the cost for the advertisement. Forexample, the advertisers may change their bids through a web site thatis connected to the advertiser database, through an email torepresentatives or automatic email gateways of the advertiser database,through a phone call, a fax, a letter, etc.

Alternatively, the set of highest bidders may be determined; and thecalls resulting from the advertisement are distributed to the set ofhighest bidders in frequencies that are proportional to their bidamounts. Alternatively, one from the set of highest bidders is furtherselected according other criteria, such as the geographic distance fromthe advertisers to the callers. Alternatively, other criteria, such asthe matching of geographic service area to the location of the callers,are used to select a set of candidates; and the candidates are thenranked according to the prices specified by the advertisers for the payfor performance advertisement, where the performance is measured interms of phone calls resulting from the advertisement.

In one embodiment, the availability of the advertisers to answer thecall is also considered. In one embodiment, if the top-ranking (e.g.,according to the bidding) advertiser receives a call and doesn't pick upafter a certain amount of time (e.g. 30 seconds), the call isautomatically routed to the second-highest ranking advertiser, and soon. In another embodiment, the missed call is routed to a humanconcierge who transfers the call to the appropriate available advertiseror information source.

In one embodiment, the advertiser group includes subgroups ofadvertisers for different geographic areas. Indications of geographicareas of interest to the callers can be used in the selection process.

In one embodiment, the selection of the geographic area is made when theuser selects the phone number from the advertisements. The phone numberis encoded with geographic area information such that, when the phonenumber is dialed, the geographic area information can be automaticallydecoded from the phone number dialed; and the geographic areainformation can be used to rank the advertisers and/or eliminate theadvertisers that are not for the corresponding geographic areas.

In one embodiment, the geographic area information is determined fromthe location of the user phone. Alternatively, the user may specify thegeographic area in the phone call to the switch/router (2000), throughan automated system or through human concierges. Further, the user mayspecify requirements other than geographic areas for selecting thewinning advertiser. Further details are provided below.

FIG. 21 shows a diagram of a telephone connection system for offlineselection of advertisers according to one embodiment of the presentinvention.

In FIG. 21, when a user calls an advertised telephone number, the phonecall is connected to the telephone receiving equipment (2101). Thetelephone receiving equipment (2101) is connected to the control center(2105) to operate the telephone switching equipment (2103), whichselectively connects incoming phone connections (2121) from the usersand outgoing phone connections (2123) to the winning advertisers.

In one embodiment, the telephone receiving equipment (2101) and thetelephone switching equipment (2103) are circuit switched, includingPrivate Branch Exchange (PBX) and a dedicated voice network.Alternatively, the telephone receiving equipment (2101) and thetelephone switching equipment (2103) may be packet switched, includingInternet Protocol (IP) based PBX, a data communication network and agateway. In general, various telephonic techniques known in the art canbe used.

When the telephone receiving equipment (2101) picks up a phone call, thecontrol center (2105) determines whether or not further information isneeded and/or can be obtained from the caller. For example, to determinea geographical area of interest, the control center (2105) can instructthe interactive voice response (IVR) system (2107) to prompt the callerto key in the desired zip code. In one embodiment, Interactive VoiceResponse (IVR) is a telephony technology in which one may use atouch-tone telephone to interact with a database to acquire informationfrom or enter data into the database without the help of a humanconcierge.

Further, the control center may direct the IVR system (2107) to promptthe caller to specify further criteria based on the advertiserinformation (2140). For example, when the phone number is for a group ofmortgage brokers, the user may be directed to select loan sizes, loantypes, etc.

Alternatively, the control center (2105) may instruct the geographicarea locator (2109) to determine a geographic area from which the callis initiated. For example, the geographic area locator may use thecellular position system to determine the location of a cellular phone,or use a satellite/pseudolite positioning system to determine thelocation of a mobile device. Pseudolites are ground-based transmitterssignals similar to a Global Positioning System (GPS). Pseudolites areuseful in situations where signals from an orbiting satellite might beunavailable, such as tunnels, mines, buildings or other enclosed areas.A satellite/pseudolite signal receiver may determine its location andtransmit the location through the cellular phone to a cellularcommunication system, or transmit the received signals to a locationserver which computes the location.

A cellular communication system may also determine the location of acellular phone. For example, the location of a cellular phone can bedetermined using a method known as Time Difference of Arrival (TDOA) inwhich the reception times of a cellular signal from a mobile station aremeasured at several base stations to determine the position of thecellular phone. Alternatively, a method known as Advanced Forward LinkTrilateration (AFLT), or Enhanced Observed Time Difference (EOTD), canbe used, which measures the reception times of cellular signals fromseveral base stations to the cellular phone. Alternatively, the cellularsite, in which the mobile device can communicate to a based station, canbe used to determine a rough position of the cellular phone. In general,any method used by a cellular phone provider to get location information(e.g., for emergency service) can be used.

The control center (2105) may also instruct the automatic numberidentification (ANI) unit (2111) to determine the phone number of theincoming call and look up the geographic area information from thedatabase for the phone numbers.

Alternatively, the control center (2105) may connect the phone calltemporally to a human concierge who can help the caller to specify aselection criterion (or criteria).

In one embodiment of the present invention, the control center (2105)uses a number of different types of information to select the winningadvertiser based on the advertiser information (2140).

In one embodiment, the advertiser information (2140) include theidentities of the advertisers (e.g., 2141), the geographic areas (e.g.,2143) of the advertisers, the phone number(s) (e.g., 2145) of theadvertisers, the placement bids (e.g., 2147) of the advertisers, theavailability statuses (e.g., 2149) of the advertisers, etc. In analternative embodiment, more or less fields can be used for theadvertiser information. For example, keywords of the advertisementsand/or categories of the products and/or services advertised in theadvertisements can be included in the database of advertiserinformation.

The availability may include the information about the projected waitingtime for a caller to get through. The availability may also depend onthe advertisement budget specified by the advertiser. For example, theadvertiser may specify the advertisement budget in terms of the maximumnumber of calls in a day, the minimum time intervals between two calls,working hours, etc.

In one embodiment, in view of the caller's implicitly or explicitlyspecified requirements (e.g., the geographic area, the loan type, loansize, etc., if there is any), the control center ranks the advertisersaccording to the current advertiser information. For example, thecontrol center may eliminate the advertisers that are not available ordo not meet the caller's requirements and sort the remaining candidatesaccording to the bid for advertisement. The highest bidder in theremaining candidates is the winner. Alternatively, other types ofsorting criteria can be used. For example, an indicator of the degree ofmatching between the caller's requirements can be weighted according tothe advertisement bid to generate an indicator for selecting the winner.

After the winning advertiser is determined, the control center (2105)can instruct the telephone switching equipment (2103) to connect theincoming phone call to the phone number of the winning advertiser. Thecontrol center (2105) then creates a record entry in connection records(2130) to indicate the connection made for the advertiser. For example,a record entry may include information such as the from phone number(2131), the to phone number (2133), the time the connection is made(2135), the duration of the connection (2137), the media channel (2139)responsible for delivering the advertisement to the caller, theadvertisement bid (2132) of the advertiser at the time of theconnection, etc. Other information, such as whether or not a humanconcierge is involved, can also be recorded. In an alternativeembodiment, more or less fields can be used for the connection records.

In one embodiment, the recorded connection information is used togenerate invoice to bill the advertisers. An account of the advertisermay be debited automatically for the connection. Alternatively, apayment for the advertisement is collected automatically through anelectronic system for the connection.

FIGS. 22-24 show flow diagrams of making and tracking phone connectionsaccording to embodiments of the present invention.

In FIG. 22, operation 2201 receives a telephone call to a telephonenumber publicized in an advertisement for a group of advertisers.Operation 2203 selects an advertiser from the group of advertisers afterreceiving the telephone call. Operation 2205 connects the telephone callto a telephone number of the selected advertiser. Operation 2207 storesinformation about the telephonic connection to bill the advertiser basedon telephonic connections made to the selected advertiser for theadvertisement. In one embodiment, the geographic area of interest to thecaller is determined, which is used in selecting the advertiser as thereceiver of the telephone call.

In FIG. 23, after operation 2301 receives a telephone call to atelephone number advertised for a group of advertisers, operation 2303determines the telephone number of the caller through Automatic NumberIdentification (ANI). Operation 2305 determines a geographic areaassociated with the phone number (e.g., look up using the telephonenumber of the caller, obtain location information from a cellularpositioning system, a satellite/pseudolite positioning system, etc.).Operation 2307 automatically selects an advertiser from the group ofadvertisers according to the geographical area and the bidding of theadvertisers for the advertisement. Operation 2309 determines a telephonenumber of the advertiser. Operation 2311 routes the telephone call tothe telephone number of the advertiser. Operation 2313 charges theadvertiser for the advertisement that results in the telephone call tothe advertiser.

For example, in one embodiment, the system looks at the phone number(obtained through ANI) of the incoming call and automatically routes itto the highest bidding mortgage broker in the geographic area of thephone number.

In FIG. 24, after operation 2401 receives a telephone call to atelephone number publicized in an advertisement for a group ofadvertisers, operation 2403 prompts the caller through an automaticInteractive Voice Response (IVR) System for a zip code of interest.

If operation 2405 determines that the caller indicates a need for thehelp of a human concierge, operation 2407 connects the caller to a humanconcierge to receive caller specified selection requirements (e.g.,geographical area of interest, loan type, loan size, etc.).

Operation 2409 selects an advertiser from the group of advertisersaccording to a geographical area of interest to the caller and thebidding of the advertisers for the advertisement.

If operation 2411 determines that the advertiser has more than oneoffice, operation 2413 determines an office of the advertiser based onthe geographical area of interest to the caller.

Operation 2415 routes the telephone call to the office of theadvertiser.

For example, in one embodiment, a customer is prompted on the telephoneby an automatic IVR to key in the desired zip code. The system thenroutes the call to the highest bidding mortgage broker in thatgeographic area.

For example, in one embodiment, the customer is connected to a humanconcierge who asks for the desired geographic area and routes the callto the highest bidding mortgage broker in the desired geographic area.

For example, in one embodiment, a large national account which has localregional offices around the country, geography is ascertained using oneof the above discussed methods and the call is then routed to the localoffice that best matches the geography.

In one embodiment of the present invention, an advertisement is for onesingle advertiser that has a number of different locations. Theselection of the location of the advertiser and the corresponding targetphone number is made at the time a phone call is received at aswitch/router; and the selection may be automatic based on ANI orlocation information determined from a positioning system, orsemi-automatic based on user interaction with an automated IVR, ornon-automatic based on the user interaction with a human concierge.Alternatively, the advertisement can be for a group of differentadvertisers, some of which have different locations/branches in a largegeographic area (e.g., a country, around the world, etc.).

In one embodiment, before an incoming call is connected to a selectedadvertiser (e.g., selected according to price bids of the advertisersfor the phone lead, and/or a geographic location/area, and/or othercriteria which may be explicitly or implicitly specified by the caller,etc.), no further advertisement information is presented in thetelephone call to the caller. In one embodiment, no input is requiredfrom the caller to connect the incoming call, which is connected by theserver to the highest bidding advertiser of the group associated withthe telephone number that the caller dialed.

Alternatively, in one embodiment, further advertisement information maybe presented to the caller on behalf of the individual advertisers,after the phone call from the caller is received and before the phonecall is forwarded/routed/connected/bridged to an advertiser, to assistthe caller in selecting an advertiser from a set of candidates. In oneembodiment, detailed, differentiating advertisements are delivered tothe callers who are already in the process of making a telephonicconnection to one of the advertisers (e.g., service providers).

In one embodiment, advertisements for the individual advertisers are tobe presented as voice/audio messages transmitted over the telephonicconnection between the server and the caller, before the server furtherconnects the call to a selected advertiser. For example, one or moreadvertisements as in the form of a pre-recorded voice message, and/orthe output of a speech synthesizer using a text-to-speech system, can bepresented to the caller over the telephonic connection.

Alternatively, in one embodiment, advertisements for the individualadvertisers are presented in a visual form to the caller through thetelephone connection, or through a separate data connection.

For example, through the telephone connection, a data stream can beprovided from the server to the user device of the caller to present adocument, or a user interface, that shows one or more listings ofadvertisers so that the user can select one to connect. For example,when the telephonic connection between the caller and the server isbased on a Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) system, the server canprovide the data stream to the terminal used by the caller to showadvertisements, such as displaying the advertisements within a window ofthe VoIP client application, or within a separate web browser window.

In one embodiment, a VoIP phone is designed to display messages inadditional to transmitting the voice/audio messages. For example, theVoIP phone is designed to receive and display video images or stillimages during the phone connection. Advertisements/listings can bepresented as video images or still images. For example, the VoIP phonecan be designed to receive and display data (e.g., text message, webpage, WAP page, or data of a custom application). The server can streamthe advertisement data to the VoIP phone over the connection fordisplay.

In one embodiment, the selection of the caller is transmitted to theserver as a voice/audio message. For example, according to the visualand/or the voice/audio presentation of the advertisements/listings, thecaller can make the selection using a voice command (e.g., say an IDnumber of the advertisements/listings, or the name of the listings), orpressing a key to generate an audio signal (e.g., a Dual ToneMulti-Frequency (DTMF) signal) to indicate the selection.

Alternatively, in one embodiment, the selection of the caller istransmitted in a digital form, such as a text message, a web request, aWAP request, or a request in a custom communication protocol (e.g., SIP)when a custom application is used to display theadvertisements/listings.

For example, a VoIP phone is designed to transmit data generatedaccording to user input received at the input device of the phone (e.g.,a touch screen, a keyboard, a keypad, etc.) After the caller views theadvertisements/listings during the phone call, the caller can make aselection (e.g., click) to request the connection to the correspondingadvertiser.

Further, a phone designed for a circuit switched network can also bedesigned to have at least some of the communications capabilities viathe telephonic connection discussed above. For example, a phone for acircuit switched network can have a circuitry to detect audio signalsthat represents data transmitted over the phone connection and displaythe advertisements/listings according to the data received.

In one embodiment, the advertisements/listings are presented over a dataconnection separate from the telephonic connection. For example, adata-enabled phone (e.g., a cellular phone, a mobile phone, a Bluetoothphone, a software phone, etc.) can establish a separate data connectionwith the server to allow the display of the advertisements/listings. Forexample, the data-enable phone can have an application designed todisplay the advertisements/listings when the phone number of the serveris dialed. The advertisements/listings may be pre-loaded, or downloadedafter the dialing of the phone number of the server. In one embodiment,the data connection is a two-way communication channel, which allows thephone to transmit the user selection and/or other user input (e.g.,search criteria) in a digital format.

In one embodiment, the server selectively determines one or morecandidates. A representation of the candidates is then presented to thecaller for selection/confirmation. The representation can be deliveredfor visual and/or audio presentation.

In one embodiment, the candidates are selected at least partially basedon the price bids of the advertisers. In one embodiment, the selectionof the candidates is further based on a search request of the caller.For example, the caller may ask for a particular advertiser by name; andthe server can then determine the requested advertiser and one or morealternative advertisers that are similar to the requested advertiser.For example, the caller may specify a price range charged by the serviceproviders; and the server can then determine one or more candidatesbased on the price range and price bides of the advertisers.

In one embodiment, the telephone number of the server is advertised fora group of advertisers (e.g., “Call 1-800-PLUMBER for plumbers in yourarea”, “Call 1-800-MYLOCAL for top local merchants in your neighborhood:plumbing, roofing, taxi, pizza, etc.”), and/or for the capability of theserver to determine an advertiser requested over the phone.

For example, after the caller calls the telephone number of the server,the caller may specify one or more criteria to search for a suitableadvertiser/service provider. After the search is performed, the serverpresents one or more listings/advertisements of the candidates to thephone of the caller for display. The caller can select a desired one toconnect or request more candidates. Alternatively, the candidates can beread out to the caller one at a time for the user to select. In oneembodiment, the presentation sequence, or position, of the candidatesare at least partially determined by the price bids of the candidatesfor the phone lead.

FIG. 25 shows a flow diagram of making phone connections according toone embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 25, operation 2501presents a first advertisement including a first telephone numberreachable to a common service provided by a plurality of providersserving a common local geographic area. The advertisement may bepresented in a variety of media channels, such as web pages, emails,books, magazines, newspapers, television programs, text messages,multi-media messages, instant messages, billboards, refrigeratormagnets, etc. In one embodiment, the first advertisement does notspecifically identify any individual of the providers. In oneembodiment, the first advertisement does not specifically represent anyindividual providers. In one embodiment, the first advertisementidentifies a portion of the providers as examples. In one embodiment,the first advertisement identifies and describes the providers as awhole.

In one embodiment, the first telephone number is designed to reach avariety of callees based on a search request presented by the callerafter telephonic connection between the caller and the server isestablished.

From the plurality of providers, operation 2503 receives price bids forphone leads to be directed from the first telephone number to secondtelephone numbers of the plurality of providers. In one embodiment, theprice bids are used to rank the similar advertisers selectivepresentation to the caller of the first telephone number. For example,the price bids may be used to select the top one or two of currentlyavailable providers for presentation to the caller. The providers whoare not currently available to talk to the caller may be excluded fromthe list, or be presented after a further request from the caller.

In one embodiment, the availability information of the providers to talkto the caller is collected from the providers. For example, theproviders may specify the schedule (e.g., hours and days) for taking thecalls and/or specify the current availability information through acommunication channel (e.g., a phone line, a web page, a shortmessage/SMS message, etc.).

In one embodiment, the price bids are used to compute a rankingindicator to sort and select the top candidates for the caller.

For example, after operation 2505 receives a telephone call at the firsttelephone number from a caller, operation 2507 selectively presents asecond advertisement on behalf of an individual one of the plurality ofproviders, based at least partially on the price bids. In oneembodiment, the second advertisement is specific for an individualprovider. In one embodiment, the server may provide more or lessadvertisement/listing information depending on the preference of thecaller. For example, the server may present a list of names of theproviders, or present a list of names with brief descriptions, orpresent a list of names with discount offers from the correspondingproviders, or a present a list of names with detailed advertisements ofthe corresponding providers.

In one embodiment, the advertisements for multiple providers arepresented sequentially (e.g., as output of a speech synthesizer oneafter another, or as flash cards one after another, or as a scrollinglist), or substantially simultaneously with different positions on adisplay (e.g., as a text listing, a web page, a WAP page, etc.).

After operation 2509 receives an indication from the caller to selectthe individual one of the plurality of providers responsive to thesecond advertisement, operation 2511 connects the telephone call to atelephone number of the individual one of the plurality of providers.

Optionally, operation 2513 determines whether the telephone call is arepeated telephone call from the caller to the individual one of theplurality of providers within a time period. In one embodiment, theprovider is waived charges for leads (calls) from searchers/customerswho have called recently (e.g., within an hour, a day, a week, etc.).

Operation 2517 bills the individual one of the plurality of providersaccording to a price bid of the individual one of the plurality ofproviders (e.g., only if the telephone is not a repeated telephone callfrom the caller to the individual one of the plurality of providerswithin the time period).

In one embodiment, after a telephone call is received at a secondtelephone number from a caller, the telephone call is connected to afirst telephone number of a first entity who provides a price bid for aphone lead to be directed to the first telephone number of the firstentity. The first entity is then billed for the telephone call connectedto the first telephone number according to the price bid in response toa determination that the telephone is not a repeated telephone call fromthe caller to the first entity within a time period.

In one embodiment, after an input is received from the caller during thetelephone call, the first telephone number of the first entity isdetermined based at least partially on the input from the caller. Forexample, the input from the caller can specify one or more criteriawhich can be used to select the first telephone number from a pluralityof telephone numbers of different entities.

In one embodiment, options are displayed to the caller for the selectionof one from the plurality of telephone numbers of different entitiesduring the telephone call. For example, a list ofadvertisements/listings are transmitted to the caller for selectionduring the telephone call. The transmission may be through the sametelephonic connection between the caller and the server or a separatedata connection.

In one embodiment, one or more advertisements, including anadvertisement of the first entity, are presented individually for one ormore advertisers during the telephone call and prior to connecting, suchthat the caller has the opportunity to select one.

In one embodiment, prior to the telephone call, an advertisementincluding the second telephone number is presented on behalf of aplurality of entities as a whole on a media channel, such as in a webpage, email, book, magazine, newspaper, television program, textmessage, multi-media message, instant message, or on a billboard,refrigerator magnet, etc.

In one embodiment, the second telephone number is presented in anadvertisement on behalf of a plurality of entities. A plurality of pricebids are received from the plurality of entities, which can be used torank the advertisers in making individual presentations for theadvertisers during the telephone call. After the call is successfullyconnected to the first telephone number of the first entity, the firstentity is billed for the telephone call connected to the first telephonenumber according to the price bid, in response to the determination thatthe telephone is not a repeated telephone call from the caller to thefirst entity within the time period. In one embodiment, the time periodis predetermined and in the order of hour, day, or week.

In one embodiment, the caller can specify an indication of ageographical area of interest to the caller so that the server canselect the plurality of entities that service the geographical area ofinterest to the caller. For example, the caller can provide a zip codeover the telephone connection to indicate the geographical area to theserver.

In one embodiment, a geographical location of the caller from thetelephone call is determined to determine a geographical area ofinterest to the caller. The geographical location of the caller can bedetermined based on an Automatic Number Identification (ANI) service, acellular positioning system, or a satellite positioning system.

In one embodiment, the advertisement advertises a common serviceprovided by a plurality of entities in a specific geographic area, suchas Los Angeles.

In one embodiment, information, such as brief description, discountinformation, qualification summary, etc., is received from the firstentity and presented to the caller during the telephone call on behalfof the first entity. The caller can provide a selection indication inresponse to receiving such information.

In one embodiment, a search request is received from the caller duringthe telephone call and before the telephone call is connected to thefirst telephone number. After a search is performed according to thesearch request, the search result is selectively presented to thecaller. When the user selects an item in the search result whichcorresponds to the first telephone number, the telephone call isconnected to the first telephone number. In one embodiment, the searchresult is selectively presented on behalf of the first entity based atleast partially on the price bid.

In one embodiment, the telephone call is connected to the firsttelephone number without revealing the first telephone number to thecaller. For example, the server makes a separate phone call to the firsttelephone number and then joins the call from the caller with theseparate phone call to connect the caller and the first entity.Alternatively, the first telephone number can be provided to the callerduring the phone call so that the caller may avoid calling the secondtelephone number to reach the first entity.

FIG. 26 shows a diagram of a system to make and track phone connectionsfrom a mobile device according to one embodiment of the presentinvention.

In FIG. 26, a mobile device (2601) accesses content server A (2621),content server B (2623), content server X (2629), etc., through awireless link (2635) to a access point, such as access point A (2611),access point B (2613), and access point C (2615). In general, the accesspoints may be of different types. For example, the access point may be acellular base station, an access point for wireless local area network(e.g., a WiFi access point), an access point for wireless personal areanetwork (e.g., a Bluetooth access point), etc. The access point connectsthe mobile device to the content servers through a communication network(2619), which may include the Internet, an intranet, a local areanetwork, a public switched telephone network (PSTN), privatecommunication networks, etc.

In one embodiment, the content servers provide encoded target phonenumbers, which when dialed connect the mobile device to the phonerouter/connecter (2631) which used the database (2633) to decode theencoded information and/or store the information about the phone call inthe database (2633). The router/connecter (2631) further connects themobile device to the target phones. Alternatively, the router/connecter(2631) may dial phone calls to the mobile device and the correspondingtarget phone and then join/bridge the phone calls to connect the mobiledevice and the target phone.

In one embodiment of the present invention, location-dependent contentinformation is delivered from a content server to the mobile device. Theuser may enter the location manually (e.g., through text input or voiceinput which is processed through a speech recognition system). Thecontent information may be presented on a display screen or using anaudio channel by playing prompts or audio files or through a text tospeech system.

Alternatively, the location of the mobile device may be determinedautomatically, which is then used to determine the location-dependentcontent information. For example, the location of the mobile device maybe determined through a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver that isconnected to, or built within, the mobile device.

A location of a cellular phone can also be determined using a methodknown as Time Difference of Arrival (TDOA) in which the reception timesof a cellular signal from a mobile station are measured at several basestations to determine the position of the cellular phone. Alternatively,a method known as Advanced Forward Link Trilateration (AFLT), orEnhanced Observed Time Difference (EOTD), can be used, which measuresthe reception times of cellular signals from several base stations tothe cellular phone. Alternatively, the cellular site in which the mobiledevice can communicate to a based station can be used to determine arough position of the cellular phone. In general, any method used by acellular phone provider to get location information (e.g., for emergencyservice) can be used.

An access point for a wireless local area network or a wireless personalarea network typically has a small coverage area. Based on the locationof the access point, location information (e.g., the city, or moreprecise location information, such as latitude and longitude) can beobtained.

Further, ANI can also be used to determine the location information.Although the location information determined from ANI may not representa correct position of a mobile device, content information about thelocation determined from ANI may still be of interest to the user.

In one embodiment of the present invention, when the user performs asearch for information which may be location dependent, the locationautomatically determined for the mobile device is used with the searchrequest. For example, when the user search for “hotels” withoutspecifying a location using an SMS-based search, the city in which themobile device is located is determined; and a pay-per-call list ofhotels in the city is sent via SMS to the mobile device.

In one example, the user may search for “dentists” in a custom clientapplication; and a custom server application provides a pay-per-calllist of “dentists” close to the current position of the mobile device.

In one example, the user may search in a web page or a WAP page for aparticular subject. The return results include one or more pay-per-calladvertisements to be presented in a browser running in the mobiledevice.

In one embodiment of the present invention, certain content informationis automatically channeled into the mobile device when the mobile deviceenters into a wireless access zone. For example, when the mobile deviceenters into a commercial district, pay-per-call lists of various nearbypoints of interest, such as hotels, movie theaters, restaurants, etc.,can be automatically presented on the mobile device, according to userpreferences.

In one embodiment of the present invention, a user may search forparticular types of experts, businesses, institutions, persons, etc.When the user is interested in calling one selected entity (e.g., anexpert, a doctor, a restaurant), the mobile device can automaticallydial the encoded phone number of the entity without the user manuallydialing the number; and the phone router/connecter decodes theinformation and connects the mobile device to the phone of the selectedentity. Alternatively, the phone number of the mobile device may bedetermined (e.g., through ANI, or user input, or user preferencesetting); and the phone connector connects phone calls to both themobile device and the phone of the selected entity to connect the userto the selected entity. In such a process, the identity of the mobiledevice may be kept anonymous from the selected entity; and/or theidentity of the selected entity may be kept anonymous from the user ofthe mobile device.

FIGS. 27-28 show flow diagrams of making and tracking phone connectionsaccording to embodiments of the present invention.

In FIG. 27, operation 2701 provides an encoded target phone number to acontent provider, where the phone number is usable to identify thecontent provider among a plurality of content providers and to identifya target phone number among a plurality of target phone numbers.

Operation 2703 transmits content information from the content providerto a user of a mobile device (e.g., through a wireless connection) wherethe content information contains the encoded target phone number. Thecontent information may include, pay-per-call advertisements, lists ofexperts, lists of points of interests, etc.

After operation 2705 receives a phone call according to the encodedtarget phone number, operation 2707 determines the target phone numberand the content provider according to the encoded target phone number;and operation 2709 connect the phone call to the target phone number.

Operation 2711 records information identifying the target phone numberand the content provider for the phone call. The recorded informationcan be used to bill for advertisements and/or for making phoneconnections, provide credit/compensation for the content provider, andprovide information for fine-tuning advertisement operations.

In FIG. 28, operation 2801 starts to obtain a type of contentinformation at a mobile device (e.g., a cellular phone, a cellular phonewith a GPS receiver, a PDA, etc.)

If operation 2803 determines the content information depends on thelocation of the mobile device, operation 2805 determines locationinformation of the mobile device (e.g., through a GPS receiver,Automatic Number Identification, a cellular location server). Thelocation may be determined at the mobile station or determined at aserver station.

Operation 2807 transmits content information from a content provider toa user of the mobile device (e.g., through a wireless connection) wherethe content information contains a first phone number.

Operation 2809 dials the first phone number to make a phone call fromthe mobile device in response to a user request (e.g., voice or textinput or click). In one embodiment the mobile device dials the firstphone number without the user manually dialing the individual digits ofthe first phone number.

After operation 2811 receives the phone call at a routing station,operation 2813 determines a second phone number and the content providerfrom the first phone number dialed to make the phone call. Operation2815 dials the second phone number from the routing station to connectthe phone call to the second phone number.

Operation 2817 stores information indicating the second phone number andthe content provider for the phone call. The second phone number can beused to bill for the connection; and the content provider can becredited/compensated for providing the first phone number to the mobiledevice.

FIG. 29 illustrates ways to provide advertisements via an audio capableportal according to embodiments of the present invention. In FIG. 29, anaudio capable portal (2901) is used to provide an advertisement (2903)to a customer (2907). The audio capable portal (2901) can be aninteractive voice response (IVR) system, a telephone based directoryservice such as a 411 telephone directory, a radio broadcasting system,a television system, a human concierge, a text-to-speech synthesizer, avideo portal, a voice portal, a web site, etc. In one embodiment, theaudio capable portal (2901) includes an interactive voice response (IVR)tree that can be used to decide which advertisers to present. Forexample, after the customer makes a VoIP-based call to a portal, the IVRsystem may prompt the customer to press 1 for hotels, 2 for restaurants,etc. After the customer specifies the category of products or services,the system can perform a search of advertisements that are relevant tothe interest of the customer. In one embodiment, the IVR system canfurther collect information such as price range, sub-categories,keywords, and/or the geographic area of interest (e.g., via the customerspecifying a zip code or selecting a city or metropolitan region). Inone embodiment, a human concierge can further assist the customer inproviding the answers to the IVR tree.

In one embodiment, the advertisement (2903) includes at least an audiocomponent (2905). In another embodiment, the advertisement (2903) isprimarily a voice or audio message. The advertisement (2903) may alsoinclude a visual component, such as a text message, a video image, ananimation, a still image, etc.

In one embodiment, the advertisement (2903) includes a reference thatcan be used to ask the connection provider/tracker (2909) to provide aconnection between the customer (2907) and the advertiser (2911) of theadvertisement (2903).

For example, the reference can be a telephone number of the connectionprovider/tracker (2909). The telephone number may or may not have anextension. The telephone number may be presented in the audio componentand/or the video component of the advertisement. The telephone number isassociated with the advertiser (2911) such that when the customer callsthe connection provider/tracker (2909) at the telephone number given inthe advertisement (2903), the connection provider/tracker (2909) candetermine the phone number of the advertiser (2911) based on thetelephone number that the customer used to call the connectionprovider/tracker (2909). The connection provider/tracker (2909) can thenconnect the call to the advertiser (2911), providing a communicationlead to the advertiser (291 1). In one embodiment, the advertiser (2911)pays for the advertisement based on the communication leads receivedfrom the connection provider/tracker. For example, the advertisement canbe charged for in a pay per call format, where the call represents acommunication lead, such as a telephone call, or other types of callsfor the establishment of real time communication connections.

Alternatively or in combination, the reference can include a SIP addressfor the initiation of VoIP calls to the connection provider/tracker(2909), or user names in an instant messaging system, or a reference torequest a callback to the customer in relation with the advertisement,or a reference to request a dynamically assigned phone number for theadvertisement. In one embodiment, multiple types of references can beprovided; and the customer can choose one to request for a connection tothe advertiser.

In one embodiment, the customer makes a separate connection to theprovider/tracker (2909), in response to the advertisement, to request aconnection with the advertiser (291 1).

Alternatively, the customer (2907) may request the audio capable portal(2901) to arrange the connection. For example, in response to theadvertisement, the customer may communicate a request to the audiocapable portal (2901) via a voice command (e.g., “connect me to thisadvertiser”) or an audio signal. For example, the customer (2907) canpress the “#” key on the dial pad of a phone that is connected to theaudio capable portal (2901) to generate the corresponding DTMF signal toindicate the request for a connect to the advertiser (291 1). Thecustomer (2907) may also implicitly request the connection by notproviding a specific input within a period of time. For example, withina pre-determined period of time (e.g., 5 second), if the customer (2907)does not press the “*” key on the dial pad of the phone, it can bedetermined that the customer wants the connection to the advertiser(2911).

Alternatively, the customer (2907) may send the request via a button orlink on a graphical user interface of a software phone (or a dataenabled phone) that is used to connect to the audio capable portal.

In one embodiment, in response to the request from the customer, theaudio capable portal (2901) connects the customer to the connectionprovider/tracker (2909) according to the reference associated with theadvertisement. For example, the audio capable portal (2901) can forwardthe call from the customer (2907) to the connection provider/tracker(2909). Alternatively, the audio capable portal (2901) can make aseparate call to the connection provider/tracker (2909) according to thereference and then bridge, conference, or join the calls to connect thecustomer (2907) to the connection provider/tracker (2909).

In one embodiment, the advertisements are presented as a “switch pitch.”For example, the customer may ask for “Hilton Hotel” (e.g., in adirectory assistance request). The system determines whether it hasother advertisements in this same category (e.g., hotel), and if so,presents one or more of the advertisements selected from this category.For instance, the presentation may include an offer, such as: “SheratonHotels is offering a 20% discount this week. Would you like to beconnected to them instead?”

In one embodiment, such advertisements are triggered by certain keywordsdetected in the conversation, such as “hotel.” Alternatively or incombination, the advertisements can be selected according to category.For example, the customer may have pressed #3 to request directoryassistance in the category of travel accommodations. In one embodiment,the voice request made by the customer and/or the response of a humanconcierge is converted into text via speech recognition; and based onthe text, the system automatically determines the context of theconversation and selects one or more advertisements for presentationaccording to the determined context. In one embodiment, a number ofadvertisements are selected and presented to the human concierge (e.g.,in a visual form on a display device in front of the human concierge);and the human concierge can then select one for presentation via theaudio capable channel to the customer.

In one embodiment the advertisements are cross-sells. The systemdetermines whether it has advertisements in a category related to thecategory of interest to the customer, and if so, presents one or more ofthe advertisements selected from the related category. For instance, ifthe customer asks for airlines, advertisements for rental cars can beselected for presentation. In one embodiment, the system determines thecontext of the conversation (e.g., based on text generated via speechrecognition) and selects one or more related context for the selectionof advertisements.

In one embodiment, the system automatically sets limits to thecross-selling or switch-pitch that may occur. For instance, if thecustomer asks for directory assistance in the category of “hotels,” thesystem is configured not to play advertisements for a set of hotels thatare not in the economic level indicated by the customer. The system candetermine an economic level according to the explicit input from theuser, or derived based on an example provided by the customer.

In one embodiment, the system can automatically exclude certainadvertising partners. For example, if one audio capable portal has arelationship with Hilton Hotels, they may want to exclude advertisementsfor “Sheraton Hotels” from being played in their context when queryingfor advertisements from a database (e.g., a database maintained by apartner but not by the audio-capable portal). One or more filters can beapplied when selecting from the advertisements that are received fromthe database as a query result.

In one embodiment, the system uses one or more pre-determined rules toselect the advertisements based on one or more parameters derivedspecific from the context. The parameters may be explicitly specified bythe customer (e.g., via an IVR tree), or implicitly derived from thecommunications received from the customer. For example, when thecustomer asks for a specific hotel, the system can implicitly derive theeconomic level based on the mentioned hotel (e.g., using a look up tablethat pre-categorize the economic level of known hotels); and theeconomic level determined based on the hotel can be applied to theselection of rental car advertisements in cross selling, or theselection of hotel advertisements in pitch switching.

In one embodiment, the advertisements are selected according to at leastthe pay per call price bids. For example, the system can sort thecandidate list and select the advertisement that has the highest pay percall price bid. In one embodiment, the system can also consider theyield of advertisements in the past in making the selection. Forexample, a conversion rate, such as the ratio between a count ofpresentations made in a past period of time and a count of communicationleads resulting from the presentations, can be used to evaluate theyield of the advertisements. Thus, if many consumers decide to connectto the advertiser in response to the advertisement, it would positivelyaffect that advertisement's place in the rank order.

In one embodiment, the key factors used to rank the advertisementsinclude the pay per call price bid and yield; and an overall assessmentof “value” (e.g., the product of the conversion rate and the price bid,which indicates the expected return from presenting the advertisement)can be determined for the selection of an advertisement forpresentation. Using such an approach of overall value assessment, thebest advertisements (e.g., those that earn the audio-capable portal themost money) can be selected for presentation to the customers.

In one embodiment, the ranking system can also take into account yieldon different audio-capable portals, or website, differently. Forinstance, a rental-car advertisement may have a very high yield on atravel-oriented audio-capable portal but a low yield on adining-oriented portal. The system can automatically keep track of theyield rates of an advertisement in different contexts (e.g., differentdemand partners, different searching keywords, different searchstrategies, such as cross-selling or pitch-switching, etc.) and use thetracked information in determining which advertisement to present inindividual context. For example, in one embodiment, the system tracksnot only the demand partners who are responsible for delivering theadvertisement but also the context of the presentation of theadvertisement, such as the keywords used in a search which results inthe selection of the advertisement for presentation, one or morekeywords that describe the environment in which the advertisement ispresented in (e.g., travel or dining oriented context), and/or thetarget of the directory assistance request. From the trackedinformation, the system can determine a conversion rate that is specificto a demand partner, a set of searching keywords, and/or a specificsearch strategy.

In FIG. 29, based on the reference that is used to establish theconnection between the connection provider/tracker (2909) and thecustomer (2907), the connection provider/tracker (2909) counts thecommunication leads provided to the advertiser (2911); and theadvertiser (2911) is charged for the advertisement based on thecommunication leads delivered.

In one embodiment, the audio capable portal (2901) receives theadvertisement, together with the reference, from an advertisementprovider via an application programming interface (API). For example, anaudio advertisement can be transmitted to the audio capable portal(2901) in one of a number of formats, such as wav, mp3, Ogg Vorbis,AC-3, MPEG-4, RealAudio, etc. The advertisement provider may be the sameentity as the connection provider/tracker (2909). Alternatively, theadvertisement provider and the connection provider/tracker (2909) can beseparate, cooperative entities.

In one example, when the audio capable portal (2901) has an opportunityto present an advertisement to the customer (2907), the audio capableportal (2901) can query the connection provider/tracker (2909) via anAPI to obtain an advertisement according to one or more criteria. TheAPI may be provided via a web service (e.g., via an HTTP protocol). Forexample, when the customer asks for a phone number of a plumber, anadvertisement of a different plumber, or an advertisement related toplumbing, can be requested from the connection provider/tracker (2909)(e.g., via a HTTP request). The advertisement and the reference can beprovided to the audio capable portal (2901) (e.g., via a HTTP response).

The reference can be presented to the customer (2907) by the audiocapable portal (2901) as part of the advertisement (2903). Using thereference, the customer (2907) can directly ask the connectionprovider/tracker (2909) to provide a connection to the advertiser(2911). For example, a telephone number assigned to the advertiser(2911) can be read to the customer (2907) as part of the audio component(2905) of the advertisement (2903). Further, the audio capable portal(2901) can further offer to SMS or email the telephone number to thecustomer (2907).

In one embodiment, the audio capable portal (2901) may not present thereference to the customer (2907). The customer (2907) requests for theconnection to the advertiser (2911) through the audio capable portal(2901). For example, within a time period of the advertisement, thecustomer (2907) can say “connect me” or press “#” key; and in responsethe audio capable portal (2901) arranges the connection to theadvertiser (2911) using the reference.

In another embodiment, the audio capable portal (2901) presents thereference to the customer (2907) to allow the customer (2907) to makethe request to the connection provider/tracker (2909) directly, orindirectly via the audio capable portal (2901), for a connection to theadvertiser (2911).

In one embodiment, the advertisement may be presented according to ageneral category query. A customer may ask for a “florist in SanFrancisco” without supplying a particular name of a florist. In thiscase the system connects the end user with the highest-bidding floristin the desired geography.

In one embodiment, the audio capable portal (2901) receives theadvertisement (2903) and then provides the advertisement to the customer(2907). For example, the audio capable portal (2901) can buffer theentire audio advertisement and then play the audio advertisement to thecustomer after the entire audio advertisement is received. In anotherexample, the audio capable portal (2901) buffers a portion of the audioadvertisement and then start to play the audio advertisement to thecustomer while receiving the remaining portion of the audioadvertisement from the advertisement provider. Thus, there is a delaybetween receiving the audio advertisement from an advertisement providerand presenting the audio advertisement to the customer.

In one embodiment, the audio capable portal may use a connection betweenthe customer and the connection provider/tracker to facilitate thetransmission of the audio advertisement to the customer, as illustratedin FIG. 30.

In general, when the type of the connection between the customer and thedemand partner (3001) is compatible with the connection that may berequested by the customer to advertiser (3007), the process asillustrated in FIG. 30 can be used.

FIG. 30 illustrates a way to provide an advertisement and to connect acustomer and an advertiser according to embodiments of the presentinvention. In FIG. 30, a demand partner (3001) establishes an audioconnection with the customer (3003) and determines an opportunity foradvertisement. When there is an opportunity to present an advertisementthrough the audio connection, which may also through text, data, video,etc., the demand partner (3001) connects the audio connection to theadvertisement provider (3005).

For example, the demand partner (3001) can make a separate connection tothe advertisement provider (3005) to request the advertisement and thenbridge or conference the two connections to connection the advertisementprovider (3005) and the customer (3003) for the presentation of theadvertisement. The demand partner (3001) does not need to buffer theadvertisement; and the advertisement can be transmitted from theadvertisement provider to the customer in real time without delay.

In another example, the demand partner (3001) can forward (e.g.,temporarily) the connection with the customer (3003) to theadvertisement provider for the presentation of the advertisement. Thedemand partner (3001) can hand shake with the advertisement provider(3005) to forward the connection with a request for the advertisementthat is formulated by the demand partner (e.g., at least one criterionfor the search of the advertisement is specified by the demand partner).In one embodiment, advertisement provider (3005) can subsequentlyforward the connection back to the demand partner (3001) (e.g.,according to the request from the customer).

For example, after the advertisement is presented to the customer andthe customer does not wish to be further connected to the advertiser(3007), the advertisement provider (3005) can forward the connectionback to the demand partner (3001) for further communications between thedemand partner (3001) and the customer (3003). If the customer indicatesthe desire to talk to the advertiser (3007), in response to theadvertisement, the advertisement provider (3005) can further connect theconnection to the advertiser (3007) (e.g., through bridging,conferencing, forwarding, etc.) In one embodiment, after theconversation between the customer (3003) and the advertiser (3007), theadvertisement provider (3005) can disconnect the advertiser (3007) andforward the connection with the customer (3003) back to the demandpartner (3001).

In one embodiment, the demand partner (3001) and the advertisementprovider (3005) are the same entity. For example, the advertisementprovider (3005) may operate its own audio portal to seek advertisementopportunities over audio connections. Alternatively, the demand partner(3001) and the advertisement provider (3005) can be separate,cooperative entities.

In one embodiment according to FIG. 30, the advertisement provider(3005) does not have to assign a communication reference to theadvertiser, or to the advertisement, for the customer to call (e.g.,request a connection with) the advertiser.

For example, the advertisement provider (3005) can track thecontribution of the demand partner (3001) when the demand partner (3001)forwards, conferences or bridges the audio connection established withthe customer to the advertisement provider (3005). For example, thedemand partner (3001) can initiate a VoIP-based connection with theadvertisement provider (3005); and the identity of the demand partnercan be identified based on the source address of the connection. Forexample, the demand partner (3001) can call a telephone number of theadvertisement provider (3005) to make a phone connection; and, thedemand partner can be identified via an Automatic Number Identification(ANI) service. The advertisement provider (3005) can keep track of theaudio channels that are used to delivered the advertisements; and when arequest for a connection with the advertiser (3007) is detected in anaudio channel, the contact information of the advertiser of theadvertisement delivered in that audio channel can be looked up to makethe connection to the advertiser (3007).

Alternatively or in combination, a communication reference can also beassigned to the advertiser and/or the advertisement. The communicationreference can be embedded in the advertisement such that after thecommunication connection between the advertisement provider and thecustomer (3003) is disconnected, the customer (3003) can still use thecommunication reference, which is presented with the advertisement, torequest a connection with the advertiser (3007).

FIG. 31 illustrates an example of connecting a caller and an advertiseraccording to one embodiment. In FIG. 31, a call is placed from a caller(3101) to a directory assistance provider (3103) (e.g., using atraditional telephone, a mobile phone, a cellular phone, asoftware-based phone, a USB phone, etc). The directory assistancerequest is made in an audio format (e.g., via voice communications overa telephone connection). The service of directory assistance can beprovided via a live operator or via an interactive voice responsesystem. Based on the service request received from the caller (e.g.,received from a mobile device, such as a cell phone), an advertisementcan be provided to the caller in an audio form and/or in a visual form.

For example, when the caller asks for a car rental company during adirectory assistance call, directory assistance information (e.g., thetelephone number of the car rental company) can be provided to thecaller via playing an audio clip, synthesizing a voice message from atext message, reading a text message by a human operator, or sending asSMS message by the directory assistance provider (3103). The directoryassistance provider may query the advertisement database (3109) via asearch request and receive the advertisement as a search result. Afterthe advertisement is received from the advertisement database (3109),the directory assistance provider (3109) presents the advertisement tothe caller (3101) via the phone connection with the caller (3101).Alternatively, the directory assistance provider (3103) may buffer thedata stream for the advertisement and start to presenting theadvertisement when a sufficient portion of the advertisement isbuffered. In one embodiment, the directory assistance provider (3103)can pre-fetch a set of advertisements (e.g., based on statistics ofquery requests, or categories of advertisements) so that the audioadvertisements can be cached for enhanced performance. For example, thesound files for the audio advertisements and/or other data, such as bidprice, yield potential, etc., can be cached for improved performance inreducing data traffic between the directory assistance provider (3103)and the advertisement database (3109) and for improved performance inreducing the time needed to select an advertisement for presentation.

Alternatively, to provide the advertisement to the caller (3101), thephone call from the caller (3101) can be further connected to theconnection provider (3107). For example, the directory assistanceprovider (3103) can make a separate connection to the connectionprovider (3107) and bridge or conference the connection with the caller(3101) and the connection with the connection provider (3107) to allowthe advertisement to be delivered in real time from the connectionprovider (3107) to the caller (3101). Alternatively, the directoryassistance provider (3103) may forward the call from the caller (3101)to the connection provider (3107) to allow the connection provider(3107) to present the advertisement to the caller (3101) directly.

In one embodiment, the search request for the advertisement is submittedto the connection provider via the phone connection between theconnection provider (3107) and the directory assistance provider (3103).For example, the search request may be by the presented directoryassistance provider (3103) as a string of audio signals (e.g., in DTMF)using the phone connection between the connection provider (3107) andthe directory assistance provider. For example, the connection providermay use an IVR system or a human operator to obtain the search requestfrom the directory assistance provider (3103). In one embodiment, thephone connection between the connection provider (3107) and thedirectory assistance provider (3103) also supports data transmission(e.g., in a VoIP call, or a multi-media session via an instant messagingnetwork, or a custom network connection); and the search request can besubmitted to the connection provider (3107) via digital datacommunications.

In one embodiment, the connection provider (3107) selects anadvertisement according to the search request received from thedirectory assistance provider (3103) and the presents the advertisementto the caller (3101) via the connection arranged by the directoryassistance provider (3103).

In one embodiment, the directory assistance provider (3103) monitors thepresentation of the advertisement to the caller (3101) and any responsesfrom the caller (3 101). If the directory assistance provider (3103)detects that the caller (3101) provides a response to the advertisementto request a connection to the advertiser (3105), the directoryassistance provider (3103) may hand the call completely over to theconnection provider and disconnect from the call. For example, thedirectory assistance provider (3103) may leave the phone conference withthe caller and the connection provider and/or forward the call to theconnection provider (3107) which then further connects the caller to theadvertiser (3105). If the directory assistance provider (3103)determines that the caller (3101) does not want to connect to theadvertiser (3105), the directory assistance provider (3103) maydisconnect the connection provider (3107) from the caller (3101) andcontinue with the directory assistance service.

In one embodiment, after the caller (3101) is connected to the directoryassistance provider (3103), the directory assistance provider (3103)conferences the connection provider (3107) into the call to allow theconnection provider to receive a portion of the communications from thecaller (3101). Based on the portion of the communications received fromthe caller (3101) (e.g., the directory assistance request submitted bythe caller 3101), an advertisement can be selected for presentation tothe caller (3101) (e.g., via the conference call with the caller), whilethe directory assistance provider (3103) works on the directoryassistance request from the caller.

Thus, in one embodiment, the directory assistance provider (3103) canwork on the directory assistance request, while an advertisementprovider (not shown in FIG. 31 in general, but could be the same entityas the connection provider in one embodiment) who is connected to theconnection provider (3107) can work in parallel on the directoryassistance request to select a advertisement (e.g., to supplement thedirectory assistance). The advertisement provider may determine acontext of the call and provide an advertisement that is relevant to thedirectory assistance call.

The directory assistance provider (3103) and the advertisement providermay communicate with each other (e.g., via the phone connection betweenthe connection provider 3107 and the directory assistance provider 3103,or via a separate connect) to coordinate the advertisement services andthe directory assistance services.

For example, the advertisement provider may monitor the conversationbetween the caller (3101) and the directory assistance provider (3103)to determine an opportunity for advertisement and select an appropriateadvertisement based on the monitored conversation. The conversation maybe monitored by a speech-recognition system, “listening” for keywordsthat will, in turn, help determine which advertisements should be playedeither on this call or subsequent interactions. When an advertisement isselected by the advertisement provider, the advertisement provider maysignal to the directory assistance provider (3103) to request anarrangement for the presentation of the advertisement. When thedirectory assistance provider (3103) finds an appropriate time instancefor the presentation the advertisement, the directory assistanceprovider (3103) then signals the advertisement provider to startpresenting the advertisement.

For example, during a non-advertisement period, the advertisementprovider is connected to the caller (3101) in a half-duplex mode, inwhich the advertisement provider can listen to what the caller says butnot talk to the caller (3101). When the advertisement is ready forpresentation, the directory assistance provider (3103) can switch theconnection into a full-duplet mode for an advertisement period, duringwhich the advertisement provider and the caller (3101) can communicatewith each other in full-duplex.

Alternatively, the directory assistance provider (3103) may buffer thevoice input from the caller and transmit the buffered voice input to theadvertisement provider to allow the advertisement provider to select anadvertisement. In one embodiment, the directory assistance provider(3103) converts the voice input from the caller into text via speechrecognition and provide the text to the advertisement provider to searchfor a matching advertisement.

In one embodiment, the directory assistance provider (3103) maintains anaudio connection with the connection provider (3107) to receive theaudio advertisement; and a separate data channel to the advertisementdatabase (3109) is used to request the audio advertisement. For example,the search request can be submitted to the advertisement database (3109)via a web site to request that an audio advertisement be presented inthe audio channel between the connection provider (3107) and thedirectory assistance provider (3103). The directory assistance provider(3103) then mixes the audio signals received from the connectionprovider into the phone connection between the caller (3101) and thedirectory assistance provider (3103). The connection between theconnection provider (3107) and the directory assistance provider (3103)may be at least partially packet switched and/or at least partiallycircuit switched.

In one embodiment, the advertisement is provided to the caller (3105) inan audio form. For example, in addition to the directory assistance, anadvertisement, such as a pay per call advertisement, is delivered to thecaller, in voice by a human operator or via an IVR system. The directoryassistance provider (3103) sends a search request based on the directoryassistance request. An advertisement database (3109) is searched toobtain one or more advertisements that satisfy the search request. Inone embodiment, the advertisement is maintained by an entity separatefrom the directory assistance provider (3103); and the directoryassistance provider (3103) uses an application programming interface(API) to invoke a method to perform the search. Alternatively or incombination, the directory assistance provider (3103) may search anadvertisement database that is maintained by the directory assistanceprovider (3103). In one embodiment, an API returning the advertisementsearch results in an audio form is used. In one embodiment, theadvertisement is retrieved in a text format (e.g., via an XML file) andconverted into an audio format (e.g., via a data processing system usinga text to speech technique, or via an operator).

In one embodiment, the audio advertisement is delivered to the caller(3101) in the phone connection in which the directory assistance requestis received (e.g., before the answer to the directory assistance requestis received). When the caller (3101) selects to call the advertiser, thedirectory assistance provider (3101) forwards the call to the connectionprovider (3107) who further connects the caller and the advertiser(3105) (e.g., by bridging the call from the caller and a separate callto the advertiser (3105). In one embodiment, the call is forwarded tothe connection provider (3107) at a phone number (e.g., a traditionalphone number with or without an extension, or a SIP address for VoIP)that is assigned to the advertiser. The connection provider (3107)identifies the advertiser based on the phone number at which theforwarded call is received. After the call is forwarded, the directoryassistance provider (3101) is no longer on the phone line with thecaller. Alternatively, the directory assistance provider (3101) may makea separate call to the connection provider, or to the advertiser (3105)directly, to connect the caller (3101) and the advertiser (3105).

In another embodiment, the advertisement is provided to the caller in avisual form. For example, an advertisement can be delivered to thecaller via SMS, email, WAP, or web, or other types of communications forvisual presentation to the caller. In one embodiment, the advertisementis delivered to the caller for visual presentation at the cell phone. Inone embodiment, advertisements can be delivered in a combined visual andaudio form. For example, a short audio advertisement can be deliveredwith a more detailed visual advertisement for an advertiser. Forexample, an audio advertisement can be delivered to the caller for oneadvertiser; and a visual advertisement can be delivered to the callerfor another advertiser.

In one embodiment, a short version of the advertisement is presented inthe audio communication channel in which the directory assistancerequest is received; and a full version of the advertisement istransmitted in a separate channel for visual presentation to the caller.In one embodiment, the visual version is transmitted after the audioversion is presented (e.g., after the caller indicates that the calleris interest in the visual advertisement based on the audioadvertisement.)

In one embodiment, the advertisement delivered to the caller is relevantto the directory assistance request received from the caller. Forexample, an advertisement of the car rental company requested by thecaller or an advertisement of another car rental company can bepresented. For example, an advertisement for a travel agency can bepresented. Alternatively, a randomly selected advertisement may bedelivered to the caller.

In one embodiment, an identity of the caller or the device used by thecaller (e.g., the cell phone) is identified based on the connection thecaller used to submit the directory assistance request. For example,based on the call received from the caller (3101), the telephone numberof the cell phone of the caller can be identified. Based on theidentified telephone number, a channel to deliver the advertisement forvisual presentation can be determined.

For example, a short message service (SMS) message can be sent to thecell phone once the telephone number of the cell phone is determined.The SMS message may include the advertisement, or include a link to, ora URL of, a web/WAP page that contains the advertisement. Alternatively,the telephone number can be used to look up an email address of thecaller from a preference database to send the advertisement via email.Other communication channels such as instant message, multimediamessaging service (MMS) message, etc., can also be used to deliver theadvertisement.

In one embodiment, the advertisement is delivered for presentation onthe same device that the caller (3101) used to make the directoryassistance request in audio. Alternatively, the advertisement isdelivered for presentation on a separate device according to apreference of the caller. For example, during the directory assistancecall, the caller may be prompted to provide a communication reference atwhich the caller wants to receive the advertisement. For example, afterreceiving the directory assistance request, the caller may be presentedwith the option to receive an advertisement on the mobile phone via anSMS message, or at a different address (e.g., at an email address, atinstant messaging user ID, etc.). The user may provide the answer viavoice or via key pad input.

In one embodiment, the communication connection used for receiving thedirectory assistance request may support communications in a multi-mediaformat. For example, a VoIP based telephony device may be used by thecaller to request the directory assistance. The communication connectionmade by the VoIP based telephony device allows not only the audiocommunications between the caller (3101) and the directory assistanceprovider (3103) but also visual communications for the presentation ofthe advertisement.

In one embodiment, the advertisement can be presented as a text message,an image, a web/WAP page, a video stream, an audio clip, etc. In oneembodiment, a custom application running on the device of the caller isused to receive and present the advertisement at least partially in avisual form and/or at least partially in an audio form.

In one embodiment, the advertisement is sent from the directoryassistance provider (3103) during the directory assistance call.Alternatively, the advertisement may be sent at least partially afterthe directory assistance call (e.g., after the user selects a link in anSMS or email message). The advertisement may be sent via a real timecommunication, or a non-real time communication.

In one embodiment, the visual advertisement includes a communicationreference which can be used to request a connection provider (3107) toprovide a real time communication connection between the caller (3101)and the advertiser (3105) of the advertisement. Further, in oneembodiment, the visual advertisement includes a communication referencewhich can be used by a connection provider (3107) to further delivervisual content to the caller (3101) (e.g., to deliver the visual contentin the same way as the advertisement is delivered to the caller). In oneembodiment, a communication reference can be used by the connectionprovider (3107) to identify both the caller (3101) and the advertiser(3105).

In one embodiment, when a call is placed as a response to a pay per calladvertisement that is presented to the caller (3101) in a visual format(e.g., in an SMS message, an email, a WAP or web page) on a mobiledevice (e.g., a PDA, a cellular phone, a mobile phone, etc.) or otherdevices, additional visual information can be presented to the caller(3101).

For example, using the communication reference embedded in theadvertisement, the caller (3101) can request the connection provider(3107) to make a real time communication connection with the advertiser(3105). The connection provider (3107) can identify the advertiser(3105) based on the communication reference used to make the request andconnect the call to the advertiser accordingly.

The communication reference can be one of the phone numbers of theconnection provider (3107), which is assigned to the advertiser. Whenthe connection provider (3107) received a phone call at the phone numberthat is assigned to the advertiser, the connection provider (3107) canfurther connect the call to the advertiser. Alternatively, thecommunication reference may be one of the Session Initiation Protocol(SIP) addresses of the connection provider (3107), which can be used bythe caller to call the connection provider (3107) via VoIP to requestthe phone connection to the advertiser. In one embodiment, thecommunication reference includes a link which when selected causes theconnection provider to present an interface (e.g., a web page) tocollect information for the connection provider (3107) to call back thecaller (3101), call the advertiser (3105) separately, and join theseparate connections to connect the caller (3101) and the advertiser(3105).

In one embodiment, the communication connection provided between thecaller (3101) and the advertiser (3105) supports multi-mediacommunications. For example, in addition to real time audiocommunications between the caller (3101) and the advertiser (3105), thecommunication connection can also support visual communications, such astext, image, video, shared application, common whiteboarding, filetransfer/sharing, etc. Thus, the advertiser (3105) can use thecommunication connection to provide visual information that supplementsthe advertisement. For example, the advertiser (3105) can provideelectronic coupons, special promotions, electronic brochures, etc. tothe caller (3101).

In one embodiment, the communication connection provided between thecaller (3101) and the advertiser (3105) supports audio communications. Aseparate communication channel is used to provide the visual informationto supplement the advertisement. For example, the advertiser (3105) mayprovide the supplemental information via an SMS message, an emailmessage, an instant message, a web/WAP page, and/or a message forpresentation by a custom application program, etc.

In one embodiment, the advertisement includes multiple communicationreferences which allow the caller (3101) to request the connectionprovider (3107) to provide multiple types of communication connects tothe advertiser (3105) for multi-media communications (e.g., one fortwo-way real time audio, one for video conferencing, one for instantmessaging, etc).

In one embodiment, when the connection provider (3107) makes aconnection to the advertiser (3105), a communication reference is sentto the advertiser (3105) to allow the advertiser (3105) to send visualinformation to the caller.

For example, the connection provider (3107) may send an audio message toinform the advertiser about the communication reference, such as a phonenumber, a SIP address, an email address, an instant messaging user ID, aURL, a reference number, etc. The communication reference can be used torequest the connection provider to communicate the supplied visualinformation to the caller (3101).

Alternatively or in combination, the connection provider (3107) can alsoprovide the advertiser an email, an SMS message, an MMS message, aninstant message, etc., to inform the advertiser about the communicationreference for the caller (3101).

For example, the connection provider (3107) may provide an SMS messageto the advertiser (3105) with a return address that is assigned to thecaller (3101). When the advertiser replies to the SMS message to thereturn address, the connection provider (3107) receives the SMS messageand delivers the message to the caller (3101).

For example, the connection provider (3107) may provide an email messageto the advertiser (3105) with a return address that is assigned to thecaller (3101). The advertiser (3105) can email the caller (3101) via theconnection provider (3107) using the return address. In one embodiment,the return address is an email address of the connection provider(3107), which when receives an email message retransmits the message tothe caller (3101) based on an association relation between the returnaddress and the caller (3101). In one embodiment, the associationrelation is stored in a database of the connection provider (3107) andis generally kept in confidence from any third party.

For example, the connection provider (3107) may provide an email messageto the advertiser (3105) with a link to a web page. The link includes areference that can be used by the connection provider (3107) to identifythe caller (and the advertiser in one embodiment). Using the web pagegateway, the advertiser (3105) can submit visual information to theconnection provider (3107) which can further transmit the information tothe caller (3101). For example, the connection provider (3107) maytransmit the visual information to the caller via an SMS message, anemail, a web/WAP page, and/or a message to a custom application, etc.

In one embodiment, the connection provider (3107) can receive visualinformation from the advertiser (3105) in one format and provide theinformation to the caller (3101) in another format (e.g., based on thepreference of the caller and/or the advertiser). For example, theconnection provider may receive the visual information via a web gatewayand transmit the visual information via an SMS message, an email, aweb/WAP page, or a combination of these. For example, the connectionprovider may receive the visual information via an email and transmitthe visual information to the caller via SMS.

In one embodiment, when the connection provider (3107) receives therequest for a real time communication connection with the advertiser(3105), the connection provider (3107) automatically determines acommunication reference to provide visual information to the caller(e.g., based on the phone number from which the connection providerreceives the request, a SIP address of the caller, etc.).

In one embodiment, when the connection provider (3107) provides a webpage to the caller (3101) to request for a call back phone number for aconnection to the advertiser (3105), the connection provider (3107) alsocollects one or more communication references for the caller (3101) toreceive visual communications from the connection provider (3107).

In one embodiment, the advertisement is for a paid phone call, such ascomputer help at $19.99 for 15 minutes. If the caller selects thisadvertisement, payment can be collected from the caller; and the calleris then subsequently connected to the available computer help advertiserwho would be earning fees from the payment made by the caller.

Visual communications from the connection provider (3107) can be used bythe connection provider to provide step-to-step help information toguide the caller through the process of connecting to the advertiser(3105). For example, the visual communications may further include acall graph to show the current status of the connection, the currentavailability of the advertiser, etc. Further, visual communications mayinclude supplemental information forwarded from the advertiser.

In one embodiment, the caller (3101) requests the real timecommunication connection with the advertiser (3105) via audiocommunications (e.g., by call a telephone communication reference thatis assigned to the advertiser (3105)). The connection provider (3107)prompts the caller for one or more other communication references atwhich the caller will accept visual communications. The caller mayprovide the visual communication references via voice input or key padinput.

In one embodiment, when the connection provider (3107) connects thecaller (3101) to the advertiser (3105), the connection provider (3107)also provides to the advertiser (3105) the information on the types ofdifferent media communications the caller accepts or prefers. Thus, theadvertiser (3105) may use appropriate multi-media communications tooptimize the communication effort with the caller (3101).

In one embodiment, the connection provider (3107) may also presents tothe caller (3101) the list of different media types that are acceptableto the advertiser (3105). Thus, the caller (3101) may prepare thecommunication device for optimized communication with the advertiser.

In one embodiment, the caller can also be presented with communicationreferences to provide visual information to the advertiser (3105), in away similar to that described above for the advertiser (3105) to providesupplemental information to the caller (3101).

In one embodiment, the communication reference provided to theadvertiser (3105) by the connection provider (3107) is valid for sendingvisual information within a limited time period, such as within the timeperiod of the real time communication connection between the caller(3101) and the advertiser (3105), or before the expiration of apre-determined time period after the real time communication connectionbetween the caller (3101) and the advertiser (3105). In one embodiment,after the limited time period, the visual information submitted from theadvertiser (3105) to the connection provider (3107) is not forwarded tothe caller (3101). In one embodiment, the time period is customizable bythe caller (3101) during the request for the real time communicationconnection between the caller (3101) and the advertiser (3105).

In one embodiment, the connection provider (3107) may also sendadditional advertisement information to the caller (3101), in responseto the caller (3101) requesting a real time communication connectionwith the advertiser (3105).

For example, the connection provider (3107) may provide supplementalinformation that is part of the advertisement. The supplementalinformation is designed to be delivered after the caller (3101)indicates that the caller (3101) is interested in the advertisement(e.g., by calling the communication reference embedded in theadvertisement). Alternatively, a separate advertisement can be selectedand delivered to the caller (3101) based on the indication that thecaller (3101) is interested in the advertisement that the caller (3101)is calling.

In one embodiment, the directory assistance provider (3103) andconnection provider (3107) are separate entities. Alternatively, thedirectory assistance provider (3103) and connection provider (3107) maybe the same entity.

In one embodiment, the advertiser may answer live or answer with an IVRsystem; and the advertiser may send visual response (e.g., supplementalinformation, special promotion, electronic coupon, etc.) to the callerbased on the telephone connection from the caller. The visual responsecan be sent via SMS, email, WAP or web pages via the connectionprovider. Alternatively, the connection provider may providecommunication references to the advertiser (3105) to allow theadvertiser (3105) to subsequently send visual responses to the caller(3101) without going through connection provider (3107).

FIG. 32 illustrates a process to advertise according to one embodimentof the present invention. In FIG. 32, an audio communication channel isestablished (3201) with a customer. The audio communication channel maybe a two-way, full-duplex, real time communication channel, such as atelephone connection, or a one way communication channel, such as aradio broadcasting system or a television system. The audiocommunication channel may be established directly to an advertisementprovider, or indirectly to an advertisement provider via a partner, suchas a directory assistance service provider, a voice portal, etc.

In FIG. 32, an advertisement is provided (3203) to the customer over theaudio communication channel on behalf of an advertising party (e.g., anadvertiser). The advertisement may be presented entirely in an audioformat, or partially in an audio format. For example, a pre-recordedaudio clip can be played to presented the audio part of theadvertisement. For example, a human operator may read a text version ofthe advertisement to present the audio advertisement. For example, atext-to-speech synthesizer can be used to convert a text version of theadvertisement into the audio advertisement in real time forpresentation.

In FIG. 32, an audio communication channel is connected (3205) to theadvertising party in response to an indication from the customer. Forexample, the audio communication channel that is used to provide theaudio advertisement can be forwarded, conferenced, or bridged to theadvertising party to allow two-way, full-duplex, real timecommunications between the customer and the advertising party (e.g., anoperator of the advertising party, or an agent or representative of theadvertising party). For example, a separate audio communication channelcan be established with the customer (e.g., via a callback to thecustomer) to connect the customer and the advertising party. Forexample, a voice message of the customer can be recorded and deliveredto the advertising party.

Alternatively or in combination, the advertisement can be used togenerate other types of communication leads, such as an email messagefrom the customer to the advertiser, an instant message, a voice mail,an SMS message, etc. In one embodiment, the advertisement includes areference such that communication leads resulting from the advertisementare received at a connection provider/tracker, which forwards orconnects the communication leads to the advertiser.

In one embodiment, the advertising party is charged for theadvertisement according to a count of audio communication leadsconnected to the advertising party. A communication lead can be atelephone call, or other types of calls for a communication connection,such as an initiation of the communication session (e.g., via SIP orother types of communication protocols). A communication lead may alsobe an email, a voice mail, an SMS message, etc.

FIG. 33 illustrates another process to advertise according to oneembodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 33, an audio communicationchannel is established (3301) with a customer; and another audiocommunication channel is established (3303) with an advertisementprovider to receive an audio advertisement. The audio communicationchannel established with a customer and the audio communication channelestablished with the advertisement provider are bridged (3305) topresent the audio advertisement to the customer.

After a request for an audio connection to an advertiser of theadvertisement is detected (3307) from the customer, the audiocommunication channel established with a customer is transferred (3309)to the advertisement provider to connect the customer and theadvertiser. In one embodiment, if no request for an audio connection tothe advertiser is received/determined as a response of theadvertisement, the advertisement provider is then disconnected from thecustomer.

In one embodiment, an audio advertisement is generated by converting atext version of an advertisement into an audio message. For example, thecontent of the advertisement can be created and submitted by theadvertiser, or by a copywriter on behalf of the advertiser (e.g., basedon the information submitted from the advertiser).

For example, an existing pay-per-call advertisements can be read by avoice actor to create the corresponding audio advertisement. Forexample, the content of the advertisement can be submitted to theadvertisement database in text; and a data processing system can be usedto convert the text into an audio message via a text-to speechsynthesizer; alternatively, a human can read the content on behalf ofthe advertiser to generate an audio recording.

In one embodiment, an advertiser can make an arrangement to record anaudio advertisement in an audio files, which is then uploaded into theadvertisement database (e.g., via a web server, a file server, or viaemail attachment or via a multi-media message, etc.). In one embodiment,the advertiser may make an audio connection with the system to allow thesystem to record a voice message over the audio connection as the audioadvertisement (e.g., recording over a phone connection between thesystem and the advertiser).

FIG. 34 illustrates a user interface for the creation of anadvertisement according to one embodiment of the present invention. Inone embodiment, the system converts the text input received from theadvertiser into an audio advertisement. In one embodiment, the audiofile for the advertisement is stored in the advertisement database;alternatively, the text input can be converted into the audioadvertisement (e.g., via a text-to-speech synthesizer) when the audioadvertisement is needed. In one embodiment, the machine synthesizedaudio recording are stored in the database for a period of time anddeleted if not used after a predetermined period of time, or when theusage of the audio advertisement is lower than a threshold.

FIG. 34 illustrates an interface (3401) which allows the advertiser todescribe an offer (or a switch pitch, or a cross sell, or someadvertising content). The advertiser can specify the business contactinformation for the advertisement, including the business name,street/mailing address, phone number and fax number. Theadvertiser/seller is encouraged to tell customers via concise marketingmessages what is being offered and why the customers should call theadvertiser/seller. For example, the advertiser is encouraged to includepromotional offers in the marketing messages to get buyers to call theadvertiser. Examples of promotional offers include: “Call today and get$5 off,” “Free consultation-limited time,” and “Call now and save 10%.”

In one embodiment, a short audio advertisement is based on the concisemarketing message (e.g., two sentences, each having a length limit, suchas 35 characters). The concise marketing message can be read by a humanto generated a recorded audio file for the short audio advertisement, orbe converted into an audio message via a text-to-speech synthesizer. Inone embodiment, the audio advertisement also includes the business name.

In one embodiment, a visual presentation of the advertisement may beused to supplement the audio advertisement. For example, the address ofthe advertisement can be presented in a visual advertisement, togetherwith additional information that is specified in the business profilepage of the advertisement. The visual component of the advertisement canbe sent to the customer via an SMS message (e.g., in response to arequest from the customer), via an email, via a custom application, viaa web/WAP page, etc.

In one embodiment, the advertisement is sent to a user device in textaccording to a pre-determined format (e.g., in XML or a custom designedformat) to allow a client application running on the user device topresent the advertisement in a custom format. For example, the clientapplication may present the short marketing advertisement in an audioform via a text-to-speech synthesize and the present a selected portionof the advertisement as an animation (e.g., present an electronic couponvia an animation). For example, a Java applet can be downloaded into thebrowser of the user to facilitate VoIP-based phone communication andperform at least part of the text-to-speech operations to enableimproved compression in transmitting audio advertisements.

In one embodiment, when an advertisement is presented to the user via aweb, the short audio advertisement can also be included; and the audioadvertisement is played automatically or after the user selects theadvertisement.

In FIG. 34, the interface (3401) may be implemented as a web page.Alternatively, an advertisement may submit the advertising content via acustom client application, or via a message gateway (e.g., an instantmessage, an email, an SMS message, etc.).

In one embodiment, the advertisement is charged based on a count ofcommunication leads (e.g., telephone calls, or communication sessions)generated from the advertisement. For example, the communications to theadvertiser can be monitored to charge for the advertisement in a pay percall format.

Alternatively, the advertisement can be paid based on subscription, inwhich the advertiser subscribes to have their advertisements played inrelevant environments. For example, a subscription can be offered to amovie studio for $10,000 per month to have a movie trailer audioadvertisement played for the movie studio when customers are exploring afilm category area in a media channel.

In one embodiment, the price for the subscription is based on pastperformance of the advertisement, or the past performance ofadvertisements in a particular categories; and the performance of theadvertisement or advertisements can be determined based at least in parton the communication leads generated from the advertisement. In oneembodiment, the subscription price can be changed periodically accordingto the most recent statistic data related to the performance of theadvertisement.

In one embodiment, the subscription price is based on a range ofanticipated performance of the advertisement. For example, the systemmay offer to deliver at least 100 calls, 200 calls, 300 calls, etc., fora subscription period (e.g., a week or a month); and an advertiser mayselect a level for 100 calls generated from the advertisement forsubscription. The system then attempts to present advertisements in oneor more media channels to generate at least 100 calls for the advertiserfor the subscribed month. The subscription fee may be specified by theadvertiser (e.g., as a price bid for the subscription), or specified bythe system (e.g., based on a cost and revenue analysis).

In one embodiment, the actual subscription fee that is paid by theadvertiser is determined after the subscription time period and based atleast in part on the communication leads generated during thesubscription period. For example, when the system failed to deliver theanticipated number of phone leads, the subscription fee may be reduced(e.g., according to a pre-determine schedule). Alternatively, the systemmay offer guaranteed performance of the subscription.

In one embodiment, the subscription fee for the advertisement is bundledwith the subscription for the communication service. For example, atelephone number (e.g., a local phone number or a toll free number) maybe assigned to the advertiser such that phone calls to the assignedphone number will be forwarded to a phone number of the advertiser, orconnected directly to the advertiser's phone line. During thesubscription period, the advertiser may also use the telephone numberfor other purposes other than advertising. Advertisements are thenpresented on behalf of the advertiser in a such way that the telephonecalls generated in response to the advertisements are connected to thephone number of the advertiser, or connected directly to theadvertiser's phone line. Thus, the subscription includes the advertisingservice and telecommunication service.

In one embodiment, the subscription fee is at least partially based uponthe performance of the advertisement in terms of communication leadsdelivered. For example, a basic level of subscription may includetelecommunication service without the advertising service; and a highlevel of subscription includes the telecommunication service andguaranteed delivery of an amount of communication leads generatedthrough advertising on behalf of subscriber.

In one embodiment, the system may charge for the advertisements based onimpression, in which the advertiser pays a price every time anadvertisement is presented. The movie studio, for instance, may agree topay $0.50 every time the movie trailer advertisement is played to alistener. In one embodiment, the price the advertiser pays for eachpresentation of the advertisement is based on the performance of theadvertisement and/or the performance of advertisements the samecategory. For example, the conversion rate of the advertisement and anaverage pay per call bid (e.g., top 3 bids) for the advertisements ofthe same category can be used to compute a pay per presentation pricefor the advertisement of the movie studio; alternatively, the conversionrate of the advertisements of the same category can be used to determinethe pay per presentation price. Alternatively, the pay per presentationprice can be specified by the advertiser directly; and the system canconvert the pay per presentation price into an equivalent pay per callprice based on the conversion rate of the advertisement.

In one embodiment, the system may charge for the advertisements based ona proxy for calls. Using statistical methods, the system can estimatehow many calls are connected between advertisers and end users. Forexample, the system may track the number of times a communicationreference that is assigned to the advertiser is presented to a customeror being requested by a demand partner for presentation to the customer,to estimate the number of calls connected to the advertiser. Such amethod is particularly useful if the exact count of calls is difficultto determine.

FIG. 35 illustrates advertising models according to embodiments of thepresent invention. In embodiment, the performance of advertisements aredetermined (3511) based on at least counting/tracking (3507)communication leads generated from advertising. The communication leadsare counted/tracked (3507) through the use of the assigned communicationreferences. The communication references are assigned (3503) such thatthe communication reference is associated with one or more parameters tobe tracked and the communication reference used to request for acommunication connection with an advertiser can be used to determine theparameters to be tracked. For example, the communication references canbe telephone numbers with or without extensions, SIP URIs, instantmessaging user identifiers, click-to-call references, etc. Thecommunication references are advertised (3505) to customers. When thecustomers use the communication references to request real timecommunication connections with the advertisers, the communication leadscan be identified as being associated with the parameters that areassociated with the respective communication references.

In one embodiment, the advertisement is charged for on a pay per callbasis, in which each communication lead generated from the advertisementis charged for according to a pre- determined price. In one embodiment,the pre-determined price can be specified and changed by the advertiser.

For example, the system may receive (3501) bids for communication leadsand make advertisement presentations based at least partially on theprice bids for communication leads. Thus, when the system delivers acommunication lead to an advertiser, the system can charge theadvertiser according to the current price bid specified by theadvertiser. Alternatively, the system can also tracked the price bid forthe advertisement presented; when the system delivers a communicationlead to an advertiser, the system can charge the advertiser according tothe price bid that is specified by the advertiser at a time when thesystem decides to present the advertisement for the advertiser.

In one embodiment, the system specifies a minimum fee for a deliveredcommunication lead and allows advertiser to bid above but not below theminimum fee. In another embodiment, the system specifies the price foreach communication lead without offering the advertiser an opportunityto bid for communication leads.

In one embodiment, the cost for advertising service is determined(3509); and the cost is used to determine a price for advertisingservice. The cost may include the cost for preparing advertisement, thecost for presenting advertisements on a media channel of a demandpartner, and/or the cost for maintaining a media channel (e.g., a website, a radio station, a billboard, etc.) for presenting advertisements,etc. The cost may or may not be proportional to the income generatedfrom the advertisement. For example, one demand partner may charge forthe advertisement for each presentation of an advertisement; one demandpartner may charge for the advertisement for each customer's selectionof a link presented in the advertisement; one demand partner may chargefor a fixed amount for opportunities to present advertisements on amedia channel; and one demand partner may charge for the advertisementas a percentage of what the advertiser pays for each communication lead.

Further, the cost for communication service (3513) can also bedetermined (3513) in determining a price for advertising service and/orcommunication service. The cost may include the cost for maintainingcommunication references such as local telephone numbers or toll freetelephone numbers, the cost for maintaining communication equipments,the cost for Internet access for providing communication connection viewInternet, and/or the cost for making communication connections betweenthe customers and the advertisers. For example, a telephone carrier maycharge for the communication based on a per minute fee when the systemprovides the connection through calling the advertiser and/or callingback the customer; the system may pay a subscription fee to a telephonecarrier to use a pool of telephone numbers as communication referencesfor the receiving, delivering and tracking of communication leadsgenerated from advertisements; the system may pay a subscription fee forInternet access; the system may maintain at least a portion oftelecommunication facility used for facilitating communicationconnections between the customers and the advertisers.

In one embodiment, based on the counting/tracking of the communicationleads generated from advertising, the system may offer the advertisingservice with a bundled price, which may be determined by the system, orspecified by the advertiser (e.g., as a price bid).

For example, the system can determine (3515) a price for apre-determined number of communication leads resulted from anadvertisement. As a volume bundle, the system can offer to generatemultiple calls from advertising for the advertiser for a particularprice; the advertiser can be charged at the time the offered package ispurchased, or after the communication leads are delivered to theadvertiser. The price for the volume bundle may be determined andoffered by the system (e.g., based on an estimated advertising cost andcommunication cost), or be specified by the advertiser as a price bid.The price for the volume bundle can be divided by the number ofcommunication leads included in the package and converted into anequivalent price per communication lead.

For example, the system can determine (3521) a subscription fee for apre-determined time period (e.g., a week or a month of service). Thesubscription may include the advertising service and/or communicationservice. For example, the system may provide a telephone number to theadvertiser, allowing the advertiser to receive phone calls at thetelephone number and to further receive communication leads generatedfrom advertising at the telephone number. The system may directlyadvertise the telephone number that is provided to the advertiser;alternatively, the system may use a separate communication reference totrack the phone leads generated from advertising. The advertiser maylimit the use of the telephone number to receiving phone leads generatedfrom the advertising service provided by the system; alternatively, theadvertiser may also give out the telephone number to receive othercommunications. In one embodiment, the subscription fee is determinedbased on the cost for advertising service, the cost for communicationservice, and/or the performance of advertisements (e.g., the performanceof similar advertisements, or the past performance of the advertisementfor the advertiser).

For example, in a subscription bundle, the advertising service ischarged for as a premium over the basic communication service providedto the advertiser. A high subscription fee can be justified based on theperformance of the advertisement (e.g., in terms of number ofcommunication leads generated for the advertiser). In one embodiment, asubscription may include an offer (e.g., a promise or guarantee) toadvertise for the advertiser and generate a stated level ofcommunication leads for the advertiser in the time period. In oneembodiment, the subscription fee is based on the actual level ofcommunication leads generated from advertising. For example, when thedelivered communication leads are less than a target level, thesubscription fee is reduced to the price for the achieved level (e.g.,according to a pre-determined schedule).

In one embodiment, the subscription is primarily for the advertisingservice; and the advertiser does not receive a communication referencefor telecommunication service (or the advertiser reserves the assignedcommunication reference primarily for the receiving of communicationleads generated from advertising). For example, communication servicescan be offered to promote the use of advertising services. In anotherembodiment, the subscription is primarily for the telecommunicationservice; and the advertisement service allows the system to charge apremium in additional to the telecommunication service. For example,advertising services can be offered to promote the use of communicationservices.

In one embodiment, a price for a pre-determined number of presentationsof advertisements can be determined (3517) based on thetracking/counting of communication leads generated from advertising. Forexample, the system may offer to present an advertisement multiple timesfor a price which is justified based on the performance of theadvertisement based on the communication leads generated fromadvertising. For example, based on the past performance of theadvertisement, or the performance of similar advertisements, the pricefor a pre-determined number of presentations can be converted into anequivalent price for a pre-determined number of communication leads.Based on the conversion rate, a pay per communication lead price canalso be converted into an equivalent pay per presentation price.

In one embodiment, the charge for advertising service is bundled withthe charge for telecommunication time. For example, a price forcommunication time is determined (3519) for the advertising service andthe communication service. Based on the performance of the advertisingservice, the telecommunication time for communication made via anassigned communication reference (e.g., a local or toll free telephonenumber) can be charged for at a high rate justified based on the valueof the advertising service. For example, tiers of communication leadsdelivered to the advertiser can be used to promote the use of thecommunication service offered at tiers of prices for communication time.For example, the system can track the communication leads generated fromadvertising on behalf of the advertiser and charge the advertiserdifferent rates for communication time for connections made via theadvertisement and for other connections. For example, the system canclassify telephone calls as calls in response to the advertisement andcalls not generated from advertisements presented on behalf of theadvertiser; and the advertiser is charged a higher rate for calls inresponse to the advertisement than for calls not generated fromadvertisements presented on behalf of the advertiser.

The advertisement charge can be bundled with the charge forcommunication time. For example, based on the statistic data related tothe monitored durations of communications resulted from advertising, theaverage price per communication lead can be converted into the averageadditional fee for communication time, which can be used to determinethe tiers of prices for communication time. The additional fee chargedfor communication time can also be converted into an equivalent pay percall price to promote the use of the communication service that isenhanced with the advertising service.

In one embodiment, the customer pays for the time communicating with theadvertiser for the services received from the advertiser over thecommunication connection between the customer and the advertiser (e.g.,for entertainment, information, or advice). The system charges thecustomer for the service rendered by the advertiser based on theduration of the communication connection and the charge the advertiserfor the bundled communication service and advertising service. In oneembodiment, the advertiser is charged a percentage of the fees thesystem collected from the customer for the advertiser. In oneembodiment, the advertiser specifies a price bid for a communicationlead which is separate from a rate for communication time provided toconnect the advertiser and the customer. In one embodiment, an initialcommunication time between the customer and the advertiser is free ofcharge to the customer; the initial period can be used by the advertiserto convince the customer to purchase the service from the advertiser;after the customer indicates the acceptance of the offer by theadvertiser, the communication time period chargeable to the customerstarts. In one embodiment, the initial communication period is free ofcharge to the customer but not to the advertiser; and the system chargesthe advertiser for the communication time regardless of the fee statusto the customer. Alternatively, the system may not charge both thecustomer and the advertiser for the initial communication period.

For example, the advertiser may charge the customer at a rate of $5.00per minute, pay the system at a price of $1.00 per minute for thecommunication connection provided by the system, and pay the system fora price bid of $3.00 per communication lead generated from advertising.In this example, the advertiser may provide an initial free consultationperiod (e.g., up to 5 minutes), while the system can charge theadvertiser $1.00 per minute even during the consultation period.Alternatively, for example, the advertiser may charge the customer at arate of $5.00 per minute and pay the system for the communicationservice and advertising service at a bundled price of 25% ($1.25 perminute) of what the customer is charged.

FIG. 36 shows an advertising method according to one embodiment of thepresent invention. In FIG. 36, an advertisement is provided (3601) tocustomers on behalf of a specific party. Voice-based communication leadsthat are delivered via advertisements are counted (3603). The specificparty is charged (3605) based at least partially on the counting of thevoice-based communication leads.

In one embodiment, a communication reference is assigned to the specificparty; and voice-based communication leads are delivered to the specificparty via the communication reference, which may be a phone number thatis toll free to callers for calls initiated within a region specified bythe specific party. In one embodiment, the advertisement includes thecommunication reference.

Alternatively, the advertisement includes a separate communicationreference; and a communication lead received via the separatecommunication reference is delivered to the specific party at thecommunication reference assigned to the specific party. In oneembodiment, to count the voice-based communication leads, voice-basedcommunication leads generated from the advertisement are tracked via theseparate communication reference. The separate communication referencecan be a phone number without an extension, a phone number with anextension, a uniform resource identifier, or a click-to-call reference.

In one embodiment, counting the voice-based communication leads is basedon a proxy event of a voice communication from a customer.

In one embodiment, the specific party is charged a price specified bythe party, in response to each communication lead delivered to the partyas a result of the advertisement.

Alternatively, the specific party can be charged a subscription fee fora pre-determined time period, where the subscription fee is determinedbased on at least partially on the counting of the communication leadsgenerated from the advertisement. In one embodiment, the subscriptionfee is associated with an offer to deliver a pre-determined number ofcommunication leads to the specific party via advertising within thetime period. For example, the subscription fee can be determined basedon an estimate of cost for presenting the advertisement and an estimateof cost for facilitating communications resulted from the advertisement,according to the counting of communication leads.

In one embodiment, the specific party is charged a price for apre-determined number of communication leads delivered to the party viathe advertisement, or a price for a pre-determined number ofpresentations of the advertisement, and/or a price for a period ofcommunication time.

In one embodiment, the advertising charge can also be bundle with otherservices, such offering a platform for online marketplace, web services,Internet access, etc.

FIG. 37 shows examples of delivering communication leads according toembodiments of the present invention. In FIG. 37, an advertisement(3703) is provided, on behalf of the advertiser (3713), to the customer(3705) together with a reference (3701) which is used to facilitate thetracking of communication leads generated via the advertisement (3703).In one embodiment, the advertisement is specific for the advertiser(3713); and the identity of the advertiser (3713) is presented in theadvertisement. In one embodiment, the advertisement is exclusively forthe advertiser (3713); alternatively, the advertisement explicitlyincludes the identities of one or more advertisers.

In one embodiment, the communication (3711) that is responsive to theadvertisement (3703) is transmitted from the customer (3705) to theadvertiser (3713) via the communication gateway (3707). Since thecommunication request is made via the reference (3701), thecommunication gateway (3707) can look up advertiser's contact info(3717) from the database (3715) based on the reference (3701) tofacilitate the transmission of the communication to the advertiser(3713). Alternatively, the reference (3701) may include an encoded orencrypted version of the advertiser's contact info, which can be decodedor decrypted without having to perform lookup from a database.

In one embodiment, the reference (3701) is at least part of a phonenumber (e.g., a toll free number, a local number, a phone extension, aSIP URI (Universal Resource Identifier), a VoIP address, etc.), whichcan be used to request a phone connection. In other embodiments, thereference (3701) may be a portion of a parameter for an HTML link whichcan be selected to request the arrangement of a communication with theadvertiser, a portion of an email for requesting a communication withthe advertiser via email, a portion of an instant messaging identifierfor requesting a communication with the advertiser via instantmessaging, etc. In one embodiment, multiple references are provided inthe advertisement to allow the customer (3705) to select a communicationmedia for reaching the advertiser (3713).

In one embodiment, a communication lead includes the delivery of thecommunication (3711) from the customer (3705) to the advertiser (3713).When the communication (3711) is delivered from a distinct customer(3705) to the advertiser (3713), the communication lead is consideredbeing delivered to the advertiser (3713); and the advertiser (3713) canbe charged a fee for the advertisement (e.g., according to a price bidon communication lead).

In one embodiment, a communication lead includes a communicationconnection provided to facilitate the communication between the customer(3705) and the advertiser (3713). In one embodiment, when thecommunication connection is readily available to the advertiser (3713),the communication lead is considered being delivered to the advertiser(3713); and the advertiser (3713) can be charged a fee for theadvertisement (e.g., according to a price bid on communication lead).For example, after the connection between the communication gateway(3707) and the customer (3705) is established and the advertiser (3713)is contacted for the completion of the connection between thecommunication gateway (3707) and the advertiser (3713), thecommunication connection between the customer (3705) and the advertiser(3713) can be considered being readily available to the advertiser(3713). In another embodiment, a communication lead is considered beingdelivered to the advertiser (3713) after the communication connection isestablished between the customer (3705) and the advertiser (3713).

In one embodiment, a connection for transmitting and receivingcommunications in real time is provided to facilitate the communicationbetween the customer (3705) and the advertiser (3713). The connectionmay support full duplex, voice communication, video communication and/ortext communication.

In one embodiment, the transmitting of the communication (3711) from thecustomer and the receiving of the communication (3711) at the advertiser(3713) may not be in real time. The communication (3711) may be storedor queued and then forwarded to or retrieved by the advertiser (3713).In one embodiment, no connection is provided to support full duplex,real time communication; and the delivery of the initial communication(3705) from the customer is considered as the communication lead.

In one embodiment, the advertisement (3703) is charged for based on thedelivery of a lead to a customer who has sufficient interest in theadvertisement to initiate a request for an in person communication withthe advertiser. Such a customer is more interested in the advertisementthan a person who is simply browsing for information. Such leads can bemore valuable than forwarding a web visitor to a web site of thecustomer.

In one embodiment, the customer (3705) makes the request for an inperson communication via a communication channel that is typically usedfor in person communications, such as a real time communication thatsupports voice. For example, the customer (3705) may request a phoneconnection with the advertiser (3713). For example, the customer (3705)may request an instant messaging session with the advertiser (3713). Forexample, the customer (3705) may request for a video conference session,or a shared application session (e.g., common whiteboarding). Forexample, the customer (3705) may request to send an email, instantmessage, voice mail, video mail, SMS message, web mail, etc., to contactthe advertiser (3713).

In one embodiment, the customer (3705) makes the request for an inperson communication via providing information that is specific to thecustomer and that is typically not apparent to a web site that is beingvisited. The provided information may or may not be forward to theadvertiser (3713).

For example, the customer may provide the customer's contact information(3723) to request that the customer be contacted by the advertiser(3713) via the communication gateway (3707). The customer's contactinformation (3723) may be used by the communication gateway to establisha connection between the customer (3705) and the communication gateway,or be provided to the advertiser (3713) who may then initiate theconnection directly with the customer (3705). The customer's contactinformation may be used by the communication gateway in receiving theinitial communication from the customer and/or in delivering the initialcommunication to the advertiser (3713).

For example, the customer can provide the phone number of the customerto request the communication gateway (3707) to establish a phoneconnection with the advertiser (3713) without providing the phone numberof the customer to the advertiser (3713). For example, the customer canprovide an email address to request communications with the advertiser(3713) via email without revealing the email address to the advertiser(3713). For example, the customer may provide a postal address torequest communications via postal services. For example, the customer(3705) may send an appointment request (3725), a product/service request(3721), a purchase order (3727), etc., to the advertiser (3713) in theinitial communication to the advertiser (3713). Alternatively, thecustomer (3705) may provide the phone number, email address, or thepostal address to the advertiser (3713) via the communication gateway(3707) such that the advertiser (3713) can subsequently contact thecustomer (3705) without the communication gateway (3707).

In one embodiment, the customer (3705) is verified as being a personbefore the communication gateway (3707) allows a communication flowbetween the customer (3705) and the advertiser (3713). For example, ahuman operator may talk to the customer to receive the customer'srequest and determine whether the communication is from a person. Forexample, the customer may be required to provide person verificationinformation (3729) so that the communication gateway (3707) candetermine whether the communication request is indeed from a viablecustomer. In one embodiment, the customer (3705) is required to beauthenticated as a registered member of the system. In one embodiment,the communication gateway uses Completely Automated Public Turing testto tell Computers and Humans Apart (CAPTCHA) to make a determination onwhether there is a human behind the communication request. In oneembodiment, a CAPTCHA test is designed such that most human users canpass the test, but it is very difficult to design a software program topass the test. Since the system made the attempt to verify that there isa viable customer behind the communication request, the lead is valuableto the advertiser (3713).

In one embodiment, the customer (3705) makes the request for an inperson communication via a communication in a form that is typicallyused for in person communication, such as voice communication. Forexample, the communication may include audio, video, image and/and textmessages.

In one embodiment, the customer (3705) makes the request for an inperson communication via particularly requesting a communication contactof the advertiser. For example, a hidden portion of a communicationreference is revealed when a request from the customer (3705) isreceived; and the user interface is specifically designed to allow theuser to specifically request the communication reference such that amajority of users would perform the action to request the communicationreference only when specifically interested in the initiation of thecommunication with the advertiser. For example, a graphical userinterface button or link may be designed to state “click here to see thephone number of this advertiser”.

In one embodiment, the information provided by the customer (3705) inmaking the request for an in person communication with the advertiser(3713) is used by the communication gateway (3707) to forward responsivecommunications obtained from the advertiser (3713) to the customer(3705).

In one embodiment, the information provided by the customer (3705) isprovided to the advertiser (3713) without expecting an in personresponse from the advertiser (3713). For example, a purchase order, anappointment or reservation request can be sent to the advertiser (3713)without an in person reply from the advertiser (3713). For example, thecommunication gateway (3707) can use the data collected from thecustomer (e.g., via a web page) to file a request with the advertiser(3713); and the request can be filed by the communication gateway (3707)on behalf of the customer, via a web form, a voice message, an email, oran application program interface, etc.

In one embodiment, the communication channel used between thecommunication gateway (3707) and the customer (3705) has the same typeas the communication channel used between the communication gateway(3707) and the advertiser (3713). The communications arerelayed/forwarded by the communication gateway (3713). Alternatively,the communication gateway (3707) may perform format conversion; andthus, the communication channel used by the customer to provide thecommunications to the communication gateway (3707) may not be the sameas the communication channel the communication gateway (3707) used toprovide the communication to the advertiser (3713). For example, thecommunication gateway may receive a requesting communication via a webpage and transmit the request to the advertiser (3713) via instantmessaging, voice mail, email, a phone call, etc.

A communication channel (3709) used for the delivery of thecommunication lead may be phone (3731), email (3733), instant messaging(3735), voice mail (3737), video mail (3739), SMS message (3741), webmail (3743), and/or other known types of communication channels.

FIG. 38 shows an advertising process according to one embodiment of thepresent invention. In FIG. 38, an advertisement is provided (3801) onbehalf of a specific party. An advertisement fee is charged (3803)responsive to a customer making a request for an in person communicationwith the specific party via the advertisement. The in personcommunication can be a telephone conversation with the specific party,instant messaging with the specific party, an electronic mail messagefrom the customer, a voice message from the customer, a video messagefrom the customer, a short message service (SMS) message from thecustomer, or a request of the customer.

In one embodiment, the customer requesting a connection for real timecommunications, such as a connection that allows full duplexcommunications between the customer and the specific party (e.g., forvoice, audio, video, and/or text communications).

In one embodiment, a reference is assigned to the specific party andembedded in the advertisement. Requests for communications with thespecific party resulted from the advertisement are tracked via thereference embedded in the advertisement.

The customer may make the request via particularly requesting to revealcontact information of the specific party, via providing contactinformation for calling back to the customer, via requesting anappointment, via initiating a communication session (e.g.,forwarding/conferencing/connecting the current communication session forcommunication with the specific party, or initiating a new communicationsession).

In one embodiment, the system facilitates the in person communicationbetween the customer and the specific party via a reference embedded inthe advertisement to allow the tracking of requests for communicationsthat are resulted from the advertisement. In one embodiment, the systemverifies that the customer is available for communication in person withthe specific party.

In one embodiment, a connection provider uses a connection serverconfigured on a packet switched network to provide telephone connectionsbetween callers (e.g., customers) and callees (e.g., advertisers), asillustrated in FIG. 39. In FIG. 39, the connection server (3907)receives and/or places telephone calls via the telecommunication carrier(3905) over the packet switched network (3909). The telecommunicationcarrier (3905) further routes the telephone communications towards thecaller (3901) and the callee (3903).

Since the telecommunication carrier (3905) can route a call from apacket switched network to a variety of destinations (e.g., atraditional analog telephone set, a mobile phone, a cellular phone, aWiFi phone, a Bluetooth phone, a softphone running on a computer, etc.),the connection sever (3907) can use one type of communication connectionwith the telephone carrier (3905) to facilitate the communicationconnections with variety of devices used by the customers (e.g., callersand callees). Thus, the implementation of the connection server (3907)can be simplified. In one embodiment, the connection server (3907) canalso place and/or receive direct VoIP calls to/from the caller (orcallee).

For example, to make a voice connection in response to a click-to-callrequest, the connection server can place separate VoIP calls, via thetelecommunication carrier (3905), to the caller (3901) (e.g., therequester of the click-to-call) and the callee (3903) (e.g., thedestination of the click-to-call request).

If the caller (3901) (or the callee 3903) is on a public switchedtelephone network (PSTN), the telecommunication carrier (3905) bridgesthe packet switched the network and the public switched telephonenetwork (PSTN). The telecommunication carrier (3905) routes the callfrom the packet switched network (3909) to the caller (3901) (or thecallee 3903) on the circuit switched network. Thus, the caller (3901)(or the callee 3903) can use a telephone set to receive the call via aPlain Old Telephone Service (POTS). The connection server (3907) joinsthe separate calls that are placed via the packet switched network(3909) to connection the callee (3903) and the caller (3901).

In one embodiment, call signaling and media content may use differentnetwork paths. While call signaling is arranged to go through the packetswitched network (3909) and the connection server (3907), the mediastream does not have to go through the connection server (3907). Forexample, when the calls are joined, the media content may be redirectedto flow over the communication carrier (3905) without going through thepacket switched network (3909) to the connection server (3907) forimproved performance and efficiency. The connection server (3907) canrelease the control over the media stream to allow the media stream toflow through the shortest path, without going through the connectionserver, while maintaining control to the connection for the call bystaying on the path for call signaling.

In another example, when the caller (3901) initiates a call over a PSTNto the connection server (3907), the telecommunication carrier (3905)converts the call for the packet switched network (3909) for theconnection server (3907).

In one embodiment, virtual softphones on the telecommunication carrier(3905) are assigned to the caller (3901) and the callee (3903) forinterfacing with the connection server (3907) over the packet switchednetwork (3909). The virtual softphones encapsulates the devices andnetworks used by the caller (3901) and callee (3903) to access theconnection server (3907); and the telecommunication carrier (3905)shields the connection server (3907) from the implementation details ofthe user devices and networks used by the caller (3901) and the callee(3903). The connection server (3907) calls (or receives calls from) andconnects the virtual softphones on the telecommunication carrier (3905)to connect the caller (3901) and the callee (3903).

In FIG. 39, the telephone connection between the telecommunicationcarrier (3905) and the connection server (3907) is facilitated via apacket switched network (3909). Thus, the connection server (3907) canoperate efficiently in a digital domain. The connection server (3907)interfaces with the telecommunication carrier (3905) using one type ofInternet Telephony systems (e.g., SIP-based Internet telephony).

Alternatively, a connection server may include some or all of thefunctionality of the telecommunication carrier (3905). For example, theconnection server may be configured to bridge a packet switched networkand a circuit switched network. The connection server may supportmultiple, different types of Internet Telephony systems.

In one embodiment, the connection server (3907) and thetelecommunication carrier (3905) are operated by different, separateentities. Alternatively, the connection server (3907) and thetelecommunication carrier (3905) may be operated by the same entity. Inanother embodiment, the telecommunication carrier (3905) includes a setof facilities operated by a number of separate entities.

In one embodiment, the caller (3901) and/or the callee (3903) may alsoplace/receive calls via a packet switched network. The telecommunicationcarrier (3905) may route the calls between the caller (3901) and thecallee (3903) without using a PSTN. In one embodiment, caller (3901)and/or the callee (3903) may place calls to or receive calls from theconnection server (3907) via Internet.

FIG. 40 shows a connection server according to one embodiment. In FIG.40, the connection server (3906) is configured to place and/or receiveVoIP calls using Session Initiation Protocol (SIP). A session bordercontroller (4001) is used to interface with the packet switched network(4003) and control the types of network traffic related to VoIP callsthat might go into the connection server (4005).

In one embodiment, the session border controller (3906) is configured tocontrol the signaling and media stream during the setting up, conductingand tearing down of VoIP calls to or from the connection server (4005).In some embodiments, the session border controller (3906) may pick upthe call that comes to the session border controller (3906), places aseparate call from the session border controller (3906), and joins thereceived call and the placed call to control both the signaling andmedia stream. In some embodiments, the session border controller (3906)may perform signaling/encoding translation to allow the connectionserver (4005) to process the VoIP calls in one standard, while receivingVoIP calls in a variety of standards (e.g., SIP, H.323, etc.). In oneembodiment, the session border controller (3906) is configured toperform one or more firewall functionalities, such as denial of serviceprotection, call filtering, bandwidth management, etc.

In one embodiment, the session border controller (3906) is configured toperform media releasing operation. When the session border controller(3906) determines that the source and destination of a media stream ison the same side of the session border controller (3906) (e.g., both thesource and the destination of the media stream is outside the connectionserver 4005), the session border controller (3906) can release thehairpinning of the media stream and allow the media stream to flowwithout going through the session border controller (3906).

In FIG. 40, a set of SIP servers (e.g., 4011, 4013, . . . , 4019) arenetworked to the session border controller (4001) to receive messagesfor incoming calls and to initiate outgoing calls. The session bordercontroller (4001) is configured to evenly distribute the calls forprocessing by the SIP servers.

For example, when an incoming message for the initiation of a call isreceived (e.g., a SIP INVITE message from the telecommunication carrier3905), the session border controller (4001) may route it to a SIP server(e.g., 4011) for processing. The INVITE message includes the phonenumber dialed by the caller and the contact information about the caller(e.g., the phone number of the caller 3901 and/or the identity of thevirtual SIP phone at the telecommunication carrier 3905).

The SIP server may determine whether the phone number dialed by thecaller (3903) is sufficient to determine the phone number of the callee(e.g., 3903). If the phone number of the callee (e.g., 3903) can bedetermined from the phone number dialed by the caller (3903) (e.g., viadecoding the phone number dialed by the callee, or looking up the phonenumber of the callee from a table using the phone number dialed by thecaller as a key), the SIP server can place a separate SIP call to thecallee via the packet switched network (4003) and then connect thecaller and the callee. Alternatively, the SIP server can further routethe SIP INVITE message (e.g., to the telecommunication carrier (3905) todirect the call to the callee. For example, the SIP server may modifythe INVITE message by replacing the destination with the determinedphone number of the callee. Further, the SIP server can modify theINVITE message by removing the phone number of the caller (or replacingthe phone number of the caller with a phone number of the connectionserver). In one embodiment, the modified INVITE message identifies thevirtual softphone corresponding to the caller on the telecommunicationcarrier as the SIP phone initiated the call; thus, the virtual softphonecorresponding to the callee on the telecommunication carrier canestablish media connection with the virtual softphone corresponding tothe caller on the telecommunication carrier directly. Alternatively, themodified INVITE message may identifies a media server (4021) (or avirtual softphone on SIP server) as the initiator for a separate call.The SIP server then connects the calls for the media stream.

In one embodiment, the caller is first connected to a media server(e.g., 4021, 4023, or 4029). For example, the SIP server may forward theSIP INVITE message to one or more of the media servers for answering thecall. When a media server (e.g., 4021) answers the call, a prompt isplayed to the caller by the media server. The media server may includean Interactive Voice Response (IVR) system, or be connected to an IVRsystem, to obtain input from the caller.

For example, the media server may prompt the caller to enter theextension assigned to the callee, such that the phone number of thecallee can be determined based on the phone number including theextension dialed by the caller. In some embodiments, the extensiondialed by the caller is sufficient to determine the phone number of thecallee. After the phone number of the callee is determined, the SIPserver can further connect the call to the callee.

For example, the media server can send a message to the SIP server. Themessage identifies the call and the extension obtained from the caller.The SIP server then determines the callee's phone number based at leaston the extension received from the media server and initiates a SIP callvia the packet switched network (4003) (e.g., by sending a SIP INVITEmessage to the telecommunication carrier 3905, which further bridges thecall to the callee 3903). Then, the SIP server disconnects the mediaserver from the call and reconnects the call to the callee.

For example, the SIP server can send a SIP BYE message to the mediaserver to disconnect the media server from the call (e.g., by sending a“BYE” message to the media server for the call) and send a re-INVITEmessage towards the caller to connect the caller and the callee.Alternatively, the media server may send a SIP BYE message to the SIPserver for the call; the BYE message may include the extension obtainedfrom the caller; in response to the BYE message that contains theextension, the SIP server determines the phone number of the callee andfurther connects the caller to the callee.

In one embodiment, the SIP server can direct the caller and the calleeto connect to each other for the media stream without having the mediastream going through the session border controller (4001) into theconnection server (4005). For example, the media stream can go throughthe telecommunication carrier (3905) in FIG. 39 without going to theconnection server (3907) after the SIP server connects the caller andthe callee.

However, the SIP server stays on the signaling path to monitor theprogress and termination of the call. The SIP server can also break theconnection between the caller and the callee, or force the media streamto come through the connection serve (4005). For example, the SIP servermay selectively conference a media server into the call to monitorand/or record the communication of the call between the caller and thecallee. For example, the SIP server may reconnect the caller and thecallee to separate media servers for interaction with an IVR system or ahuman operator to confirm a deal or transaction.

Similarly, the SIP server may initiate a callback to a caller via a SIPcall over the packet switched network (4003) for a connection to thecaller. The SIP call may be bridged onto a circuit switched network(e.g., by a telecommunication carrier 3905). The SIP server can thenreconnect the call to a media server for sending a prompt to the callerbefore reconnect the call to the callee. Alternatively, the callback canbe initiated from a media server; and the call signaling (e.g., theINVITE message from the media server) goes through the SIP server forcall control. Alternatively, the SIP server sends out the INVITE messageon behalf of the media server.

In one embodiment, the SIP servers (4011, 4013, . . . , 4019) and mediaservers (4021, 4023, . . . , 4029) are implemented on separate computersconnected via a local area network (and/or intranet or Internet).Alternatively, at least the some of the servers can be implemented on asame computer. In one embodiment, the SIP servers and the media serversare also integrated with the session border controller (4001) on a samedata process system having multiple processors coupled with a data bus.In one embodiment, the SIP servers are coupled to the media servers viaa network; and a SIP server may use any of the available media serverfor interaction with the caller (or callee). Alternatively, a SIP servermay be configured to use one or more of media servers that are notshared by other SIP server. For example, a SIP server may be implementedon a same data processing system with one or more media servers whichare reserved for the SIP server.

In one embodiment, the connection server (4005) may further include adatabase server (4005) to storing records related to the calls, datamapping between the communication references assigned to the callees andthe actual phone numbers of the callees, etc. In one embodiment, contactmapping are cached in the local memory (e.g., RAM) of the servers forimproved performance; and the cached mapping is updated when thedatabase is updated.

In general, the routines executed to implement the embodiments of theinvention may be implemented as part of an operating system or aspecific application, component, program, object, module or sequence ofinstructions referred to as “computer programs.” The computer programstypically comprise one or more instructions set at various times invarious memory and storage devices in a computer, and that, when readand executed by one or more processors in a computer, cause the computerto perform operations necessary to execute elements involving thevarious aspects of the invention. Moreover, while the invention has beendescribed in the context of fully functioning computers and computersystems, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the variousembodiments of the invention are capable of being distributed as aprogram product in a variety of forms, and that the invention appliesequally regardless of the particular type of machine orcomputer-readable media used to actually effect the distribution.Examples of computer-readable media include but are not limited torecordable type media such as volatile and non-volatile memory devices,floppy and other removable disks, hard disk drives, optical disks (e.g.,Compact Disk Read-Only Memory (CD ROMS), Digital Versatile Disks,(DVDs), etc.), among others, and transmission type media such as digitaland analog communication links.

Although the present invention has been described with reference tospecific exemplary embodiments, it will be evident that the variousmodification and changes can be made to these embodiments withoutdeparting from the broader spirit of the invention as set forth in theclaims. Accordingly, the specification and drawings are to be regardedin an illustrative sense rather than in a restrictive sense.

1. A method, comprising: providing an advertisement on behalf of aspecific party; and charging an advertisement fee responsive to acustomer making a request for an in person communication with thespecific party via the advertisement.
 2. The method of claim 1, whereinthe communication comprises a telephone conversation with the specificparty.
 3. The method of claim 2, wherein the communication comprisesinstant messaging.
 4. The method of claim 2, wherein the communicationcomprises an electronic mail message from the customer.
 5. The method ofclaim 2, wherein the communication comprises a voice message from thecustomer.
 6. The method of claim 2, wherein the communication comprisesa video message from the customer.
 7. The method of claim 2, wherein thecommunication comprises a short message service (SMS) message from thecustomer.
 8. The method of claim 2, wherein the communication comprisesa request of the customer.
 9. The method of claim 1, wherein thecustomer making the request comprises the customer requesting aconnection for real time communications.
 10. The method of claim 9,wherein the connection allows full duplex communications between thecustomer and the specific party.
 11. The method of claim 10, wherein theconnection allows communications in at least voice, audio, video, ortext.
 12. The method of claim 1, further comprising: assigning areference to the specific party; embedding the reference in theadvertisement; and tracking, via the reference, requests forcommunications with the specific party resulted from the advertisement.13. The method of claim 12, further comprising: determining a telephonicreference of the specific party in response to the request made via thereference assigned to the specific party; and placing a Voice overInternet Protocol (VoIP) call to the specific party via atelecommunication carrier using the telephonic reference determinedbased on the assigned reference used to made the request, thetelecommunication carrier to bridge the VoIP call to the specific partyon a public switch telephone network (PSTN).
 14. The method of claim 1,wherein the customer making the request comprises the customerparticularly requesting to reveal contact information of the specificparty.
 15. The method of claim 1, wherein the customer making therequest comprises the customer providing contact information for callingback to the customer.
 16. The method of claim 1, wherein the customermaking the request comprises the customer requesting an appointment. 17.The method of claim 1, wherein the customer making the request comprisesthe customer initiating a communication session.
 18. The method of claim1, further comprising: facilitating the in person communication betweenthe customer and the specific party via a reference embedded in theadvertisement.
 19. The method of claim 18, further comprising: verifyingthat the customer is available for communication in person with thespecific party.
 20. A machine readable medium containing instructionswhich when executed on a data processing system cause the system toperform a method, comprising: providing an advertisement on behalf of aspecific party; and charging an advertisement fee responsive to acustomer making a request for an in person communication with thespecific party via the advertisement.
 21. A data processing system,comprising: means for providing an advertisement on behalf of a specificparty; and means for charging an advertisement fee responsive to acustomer making a request for an in person communication with thespecific party via the advertisement.